Little Gifts
by Shadow over Egypt
Summary: A gift, a shipping, for every to Christmas. Multiple oneshots, most shonenai 23. Yugi seeks his boyfriend's brother's approval. Kaiba is disapproving.
1. Storage Angstshipping

**Shadow: **When challenging someone to do something, never leap in and announce 'And I'll do it too!' as a point of your argument. –wry grin-

The challenge – write one one-shot a day for every day of December up till Christmas.

My take on it – a one-shot a day with a vaguely Christmas theme, focusing around one of my favourite pairings (in no particular order). Most of them are shonen-ai (yeah, there's rather a _lack _of females in Yu-Gi-Oh, isn't there?), so you've been warned.

_**Disclaimer: **_Wish I owned Yu-Gi-Oh, but I don't.

_**Pairing: **__Angstshipping – _Marik Ishtar x Ryou Bakura.

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**1: Storage**

"You're kidding me."

"I must assure you, I'm not."

"But…but there's _tons _of stuff up there!"

"Exactly why I asked you to come over here and help." Ryou Bakura stood at the base of the pull-down ladders leading up to the attic in his house, Marik Ishtar at his side.

December had finally rolled around, and so arose the need for the Christmas decorations to be hauled down from their place under the eaves and strewn about the house. Ryou had asked Marik, his _ever_-willing boyfriend, to give him a hand with fetching everything down, but now the day had finally come the Egyptian was being stubbornly awkward, refusing point blank to even set foot on the attic's ladders.

Said blonde crossed his arms over his chest at Ryou's latest entreaty, rejecting the imploring brown eyes fixed upon him and the cajoling voice that went alongside them. "You cannot _pay _me to help you fetch that lot." Marik's tone was flat.

"Marik, _please?" _Ryou pulled out his best pleading expression. "I can't fetch it all down by myself."

"Then ask _Bakura _to help you. He lives here as well!"

"I asked Bakura _last _year." The beseeching eyes weren't going away anytime soon. "He broke three-quarters of the tree baubles, smashed my angel, and tried to garrotte Yami Yugi with the tinsel. It wasn't a very good idea. _Besides," _here Ryou pulled out his trump card, "you _promised _me you'd help, Marik Ishtar. Are you going back on your word?"

"I – er -"

"You are, aren't you?" Ryou looked disappointed. "And after you said you'd never… Do I really mean that little to you? It's only a few Christmas decorations – is it really that bad? Surely not. So…if it's not the decorations, is it me? Did _I _do something wrong?"

"Ryou-"

"I did, didn't I?" The almost albino looked so pitiful, so _mournful, _that –

"Alright, _alright!" _Marik scowled. "I'll help you fetch your stupid decorations down. Just stop it with the guilt-trip!"

Ryou grinned a little wickedly, sliding forward a little so he could wrap his arms around his boyfriend's neck and plant a quick kiss on the blonde's lips. "I knew you would."

Marik tried vainly to keep his scowl in place, but most of it melted away into an exasperated smile. "And they still say you're the innocent one…"

"Appearances can be deceiving, Marik Ishtar!" Ryou sprang from his arms and up the ladder with a leap and a laugh, as delicate and pretty as the angel he handed carefully down only moments later. "Are you coming up?"

Sighing, reluctantly, Marik slowly ascended into the murky depths of Ryou's attic. His first thought: "You should really clean up here more often." The place was a mess. Boxes, trunks and stacks of other odd items were sprawled around the roughly rectangular space, the wooden beams of the roof overhead slanting in at the sides to give the area a much more cramped feel. Everything was dusty and in need of a clean, the lone light-bulb swinging overhead casting a dull, aged-yellowish glow over the entire affair.

Ryou smiled at him, brushing away an ancient cobweb away from where it dangled beside his head with one hand. "I know, but would _you _come up here any more than you'd have to?"

"I see your point." Marik's words were dry.

His boyfriend shooed him over to a corner of the room. "The fake tree's over there for the living-room downstairs, as well as the stuff to decorate it with. Drag it out please and take it down there?"

Marik obediently got to work. Pulling the tree out didn't really take much; all he had to do was shift a few cases and lumber the dratted thing down all the stairs. The decorations though, were an entirely different matter. They were kept in a big box nearly as tall as him when turned on its smallest side, covered by a piece of thick cloth that looked like it was an old curtain. Lifting the curtain didn't do much nor did pulling it – the material appeared to be snagged on something at the top of the box, out of Marik's sight.

Getting ever-so-slightly frustrated with the thing the Egyptian gave the cloth a shap _yank, _Marik rewarded with a soft _shh _of cloth, the curtain coming down – and bringing a heavy box it had been trapped beneath with it. Brightly coloured baubles rained down all around the teen, bouncing off his head and shoulders with wild abandon before rolling around the attic floor. Scowling Marik glanced up to curse the dreaded box that was the new bane of his life, and found himself getting bonked in the head by the golden star Ryou stuck at the top of his Christmas tree.

There was a smothered giggle from the other end of the room. Ego dented, Marik whirled about to glare at the culprit, giving one of the baubles nearest his right foot a vengeful boot. "Do you do this _every _year?" He dropped the curtain he still held in one hand, stalking across the dirty floor to glower accusingly at his still-chuckling lover.

"Each and every." Ryou's eyes were glittering with laughter, his smile impish as he leaned forwards to press a kiss to Marik's nose. "You're all dusty, and covered in glitter."

A pout. "This is all your fault, you know."

"I know; I wish I had a video-camera."

"I'm never helping you fetch out your stupid decorations again."

"Of course not." Ryou petted his sulking boyfriend on the top of the head, cheerfully patronising.

"I mean it."

"Of course you do."

"_Ryou-" _Words cut off, Ryou kissing Marik quite firmly on the mouth, only drawing back when both of them were breathless.

"Help me take this lot downstairs?" A bright suggestion, still breathless.

Marik _knew _he was going to say yes. Ryou knew Marik knew he was going to say yes. Marik knew Ryou knew Marik knew he was going to say yes. Against Ryou, Marik _always _eventually caved in, and said yes.

_Damn manipulative boyfriends…_

Marik surrendered to the inevitable. "Fine, but I want some form of compensation after all of this."

"Okay." Ryou waited till his lover was looking up at him again, before smiling slowly, pose suggestive. "I can think of some things that would be very…_fun _for both of us."

Marik suddenly found himself forgetting _completely _about dratted stars and baubles, concentrating solely on getting all the Christmas decorations downstairs as fast as physically possible. Working at a slightly more sedate pace sorting out the streamers, Ryou laughed.


	2. Pine Needles Flareshipping

**Shadow: **Would've been up an hour or so sooner, but I got distracted by Kelpy-kun and her links-ful of wonderful AMVs. Nothing but nothing beats the mental images of Atemu dressed up in the dress of Princess Anastasia… (grins)

_**Pairing: **__Flareshipping – _Seto Kaiba x Yami no Yugi x Yugi Mouto. And watch out for Kaiba's language if you mind that stuff!! (He has a lot to be annoyed about.)

_**Notes: **_

_Koryuu – _(Japanese) Little Dragon

_Aibou – _(Japanese) Partner/Soulmate

_Koi – _(Japanese) Love

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**2: Pine Needles**

Kaiba Seto breathed in the soft, woodsy scent of pine, jammed his hands into his trenchcoat pocket while leaning against the nearest free section of wall and _sulked._

He'd been dragged from his office against his will, his laptop confiscated, bundled into the back of one of his numerous limos and driven off to this little farm at the godforsaken-end of nowhere so his kidnappers could race around a field full of pine-trees, _oo_ing and _ahh_ing over every. Single. _Damned. _One. And there were quite a few.

The sad thing was, they weren't the only ones doing that… The field and yard leading up to the farmhouse were both full of people, crowds and couples milling around to pick a tree or two before rushing off, tree usually dumped in some poor male's arms, to pay at the stall over by the way they'd come in. The world gone mad.

Kaiba deeply resented being there. For God's sake – he was _Kaiba Seto. _He _paid _people to do things like this for him. But no. His two lovers had taken it into their heads this was what they wished to do this year, and come hell or high water they _would_ have their way. Something about wanting to make Christmas more 'personal'. Kaiba wasn't sure exactly what they meant, but from the recent haranguing he'd received in his own home over the past few days he was aware it entailed doing everything he'd usually get his _staff _to do, all while said staff looked on in great amusement. And so he'd obligingly decked the halls as bid, strung steamers and banners about, festooned the doors and lintels with wreaths of holly and ivy and stolen quite a few kisses underneath the mistletoe at every available opportunity. (He'd drawn the line at decorating the giant tree in the Kaiba manor's entrance-hall though, forbidding his three family members to attempt it either. The tree was simply too big and he was afraid someone would fall and snap their necks trying to bedeck it, and so the experts had been called in and even Kaiba had grudgingly admitted it looked good.)

But now…they were searching for the smaller trees, the ones for the living-room and bedrooms. And the two who had plotted against him had run off to conduct their raptures elsewhere, and Kaiba had leaned against the nearest wall and sulked quite unbecomingly. Not that he cared, at that point in time. He wanted his laptop back.

"Seto…" The lightest of touches on his arm, and Kaiba turned to scowl at the youth who had laid a hand on him. Yami ignored the glare, smiling pleasantly. "We found the perfect tree for the living-room."

"Good. Can we go now?" Kaiba didn't care to hide the petulant whine in his voice, too put-off by the entire situation for it to matter to him right then.

"We've trees for the other rooms to find first." Yami's smile turned indulgent, his body warm as he leaned in towards his boyfriend, the softness of him in this odd half-embrace vaguely mollifying to his ill-tempered lover. "Do you want to come see the one Yugi and I have already chosen?"

Kaiba tried vainly to grab at his fast-fleeing sullenness within his mind, but Yami's long warmth against him felt so utterly wonderful outside on this cold day that it escaped his grasp completely, melting away like snow on a summer's day. "…I'll be paying for it regardless of whether I see it or not."

"True." A nod. "But at least if you come see it you'll have something to do." One black-gloved hand caught Kaiba's elbow, raising the other so Yami could guide his lover over to where he'd left Yugi guarding the tree they'd picked out.

Kaiba uttered a token protest as they went. "Yami…it's just a _tree."_

"No, it's _our _tree." A gentle correction, the once-pharaoh cheerfully ignoring each and every perfunctory complaint that left his companion's lips as they went along. Eventually they came to Yugi, the slighter male's eyes lighting up at the sight of them both.

"Seto!" Yugi gestured him over, Yami not offering the tallest of the three of them a choice, dragging Kaiba to his aibou by the arm. Once there Yami freed the brunette, abandoning the CEO to give Yugi a chaste kiss on the lips.

"This is the tree we wanted for the living-room." Yugi waved a hand at the tree beside them, lips quirking somewhat when Seto tried – and failed – to look dutifully impressed at it.

It was, to Kaiba's eyes, in every way a perfectly ordinary pine tree. Nothing about it seemed so extra-special to distinguish it from the _thousands _of others scattered around them – oh, come _on_. It was green, it still had the majority of its needles, and it was a tree. What more did they need? Turning around about to comment on this Kaiba came face to face with Yami and Yugi, the former having slipped around to hold the latter from behind during the short while Kaiba had been distracted, propping his chin up on the smaller youth's shoulder. Both yami and hikari looked amused.

Kaiba felt quite left out. Aside from the whole 'let's snuggle each other' thing his two lovers seemed to be participating in right then, the nearly identical smiles of both signalled there was something Kaiba was missing out on. And when both of those smiles were turned on him…

"_What?" _The question was a snap. Kaiba _hated _being kept out of the loop.

Two sets of purple eyes – one light, one dark – looked at each other, and then, back at Kaiba. "Nothing," was their owners' chorus.

Kaiba's right eye took on a twitch. "It's _not _'nothing' when you both look like that." Just above a hiss. "What are you two up to?"

"We told you Seto – _'nothing'_." Innocence didn't seat easily on Yami's face, eyes such a strange shade of purple they were almost red gleaming with badly-hidden laughter.

"Do you like the tree?" Purity _radiated _off of Yugi, the angel with the devil leaning on his shoulder.

"…It's just a damn _tree, _Yugi. Yami. Do you expect me to break into rapturous praise over it?" Kaiba tried to rein in his ill-temper, not really wanting to end up in the middle of a shouting match with his two lovers in the middle of a field.

"Not at all, _Koryuu," _Yami did his gliding thing again, shifting around Yugi so he could wind himself around Kaiba, nuzzling the bare skin at the side of the brunette's neck, "we just expect you to pay for it, and help carry it back to the limo."

"Why can't _you _carry it?" Kaiba frowned down at the other, but allowed his hands to drift to rest on Yami's hips. "And watch who you're calling 'little'."

Red-purple eyes practically _glowed_. "Why have a dog, and bark yourself?" Laughing at his boyfriend's expression Yami was shoved away, resuming his position as substitute ivy around Yugi. The smaller duelist rolled his eyes, but allowed the other to remain there.

Kaiba scowled, snatching up the tree Yugi had pointed out to him and storming off to pay for it, muttering all the way. Everyone else who crossed his path hastily got out of his way – the flustered woman sitting behind the cash stall would've ran away as well, but one glance from stormy blue eyes froze her to her seat with the quietest _squeak _escaping her throat.

Having paid for the tree he carried Kaiba bore his cargo to the limo, dumping the pine in the hands of a carefully neutral driver before stalking back into the field of Christmas trees for sale in pursuit of Yami and Yugi.

He found the two, hand-in-hand, enthusing over some other unlucky plant with much hand-waving and giggling and cries of 'but think of the _cleaning!' _Kaiba ignored all of it, striding up behind Yugi before bending down to whisper in the other's ear: "Just pick a fucking tree already, and we can go."

A reproachful look from his smallest of lovers. "We want at least two more trees, Seto."

"Then how about this one?" The CEO waved a hand at the one closest too them.

"Too scrawny." Yami's tone was laconic.

Next in line.

"Too dark."

"This one?" Third one along.

"Too big."

"_This _one?" Fourth.

"Too old."

"_Just pick a bloody tree!!" _Both Yami and Yugi frowned at him, and a couple nearby turned around to stare. Kaiba felt a headache coming on. Forcedly he tacked on the end: _"Please."_

"…I like this one." Hesitantly Yugi laid a hand on the bark of a tree a few metres away from his two scowling, _strained_ companions, drawing both their attentions to him.

"Then I'll go pay for it." It was Yami who spoke, tone placid, moving to pick up the chosen pine. Smiling slightly, Yugi stepped out of his way.

Kaiba reached out to snag Yami's arm. "Are you sure-?"

"I have the money, Seto, and I'm perfectly capable of carrying a tree." Much like his hikari's, Yami's smile was small. The metaphorical olive branch had been extended, in the form of a pinecone. "Why don't you stay here and help aibou pick out the last tree?"

Kaiba let the other go wordlessly, watching Yami recede into the distance to pay for the pine. Standing there, he felt a smaller – gloved – hand slip into his own, giving it a slight squeeze. Yugi's voice was soft. "…If this is really bothering you all that much we can just pick any tree and go, Seto-koi."

They could just pick a tree and go… The thought sounded wonderful to Kaiba. He was sick of this field, sick of the rows upon rows of pines, of the bitter cold, of this whole damn affair but –

But…he couldn't help remembering how excitedly both Yugi and Yami had discussed their plans in the limo getting there, and how happy the two had looked bickering playfully as the tried to choose their tree. Yami's gleaming wickedness, and Yugi's sunny cheer, and how, this year, they'd wanted Christmas to be 'personal'…

Kaiba sighed, and gave in to his conscience. "No, it's alright." He gave Yugi's hand a gentle squeeze in return, bending down to brush a swift kiss to the other's cheek. "It's only one more tree, after all, and it would be a shame to pick a runt after you and Yami have spent so long carefully selecting the others."

Yugi beamed at him, and promptly dragged him off down another row of trees. When Yami returned not so long later it was to find the two guarding their last choice fiercely – Yugi because he was determined not to let anyone else steal what he dubbed 'the best pine in the field', Kaiba because after spending so long searching for the bloody thing he wasn't going to let someone run off with it, thereby starting the whole process of hunting down 'the perfect tree' again.

And so, the final tree was taken to the stall to be paid for. The woman working as the cashier was forced to endure the terrors of Kaiba Seto one last time, and Yami and Yugi got their trees. The limo-driver got a trunkful of pine needles, and Kaiba Seto got his laptop. Peace reigned in the car back to the Kaiba manor - and then promptly got broken again, as Yami and Yugi immediately set about putting their new purchases up. _Then _Kaiba Seto was put through hell by his two lovers once more, so much so he felt himself wondering for what had to be the twenty-fifth time that day why on earth he kept them. And then the two kept helpfully wandering under the mistletoe again, and he remembered pretty quickly.


	3. Scarlet Holly and Roses Darkshipping

**Shadow: **The last two one-shots were quite fluffy for me, and so – something slightly truer to my usual form. These one-shots are all unrelated by the way, the only thing linking them is that they're all vaguely Christmas-themed.

_**Pairing: **__Darkshipping – _Yami no Yugi x Yami no Bakura. Kinda oblique this time, and a lot darker than the two stories before.

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**3) Scarlet Holly and Roses**

The doorbell of the residence attached to the Kame Game Shop rang once –clearly -, echoing throughout the house, cheerful peal cutting through the half-slumber the two occupants felt, drowsing in front of the artificial fire in the living-room.

Yami - the more awake of the two - yawned, sitting up from where he's been lying on the couch and stretching. "I'll get that, shall I?" His hikari nodded, sleepy eyes half-focusing on the Christmas movie playing out on the television.

Still more than a little asleep Yami moved over to open the house's front door, blinking a little when the wood swung aside and no-one was there. Confused, he put a foot outside, shivering when the bitter December wind gusted past and chilled his skin. About to turn around and go back inside, a sudden splash of vibrant red and green to the side of the door lintel caught his eye. Roses.

Yugi called from inside the house, vaguely petulant. "Yami, who's there?"

His darker half stood staring down at the flowers on the doorstep. "No-one, aibou."

"Then shut the door! It's _freezing _out there!"

"And don't I know it…" Yami let out the quietest of mutters, stepping a little further outside and half-closing the house door beside him. That done he bent down, scooping the roses up into his arms. They were gorgeous flowers, in full bloom and the near exact shade of his eyes. Someone had mixed holly in with the bouquet, the prickly, dark green leaves contrasting beautifully with the red roses and scarlet berries. A small envelope had been hidden amongst the flora, picking it out Yami could see '_Atemu' _written on it. Someone had left these flowers for him? Sliding the envelope open the once-pharaoh pulled out the paper within, crimson eyes widening slightly as they took in the poem written in rather elegant script there.

_As any doting lover knows_

_Love's true symbol is the rose_

_Petals red as heart's desire_

_Lust and love, blood and fire_

_Sweat-soaked, tears, anger, hate _

_Need no other can ever sate_

_And with the falling of the cold_

_One day I know you'll be in my hold_

_The thorns and leaves - the touch on skin_

_The stinging pain - my touch within_

_My love, my rose, know all – know this_

_The bloody berries are my lover's kiss_

_The whole, your fate, my gift to you_

_But for now, sweet poison, I bid thee adieu. _

Getting back up to his feet Yami frowned, a crease forming on his usually smooth brow. This was no traditional lover's token, nor the sweet hintings of a secret admirer. This was a dark promise…something bloody and foul that left a bitter taste in his mouth. Anger bubbling within him that someone should dare presume the right to him Yami unknowingly gripped too hard on the stem of one of the roses he held, a thorn sliding easily through the soft pad of his thumb.

With a hiss Yami yanked his hand away from the barb, watching a bead of blood bloom on the stabbed digit, crimson as the flowers he shifted to carry in the crook of his arm. He studied the rising liquid silently for a few moments, remembering the lines of the verse he still clutched in his other hand. This gift, though beautiful, was _poison. _Holly berries were toxic for humans, enough to make you ill, to make you sick. A thousand and one kisses sickly sweet as the sticky berries, enough to kill you?

His fury rose again. Storming back into the house he slammed the door behind him, stalking immediately past a confused Yugi and out into the back yard, throwing his bloody bouquet down on the ground with the crumpled poem on top of it.

Yugi came out to watch him. "Yami, what…?"

The other teen ignored him, working single-mindedly to add wood; the old dry twigs gathered about in the garden; and bits of old newspaper to his pile on top of the flowers. Then, he threw in a match.

The kindling caught nigh instantly, bursting into glorious flames that licked the newspaper and threw crazy, harsh light on the slanting eyes and chin of Yami's face.

Yugi tried again, worriedly leaning on the backdoor's frame. "Mon hitorou no boku…?"

"Go back to your film, Yugi." Crimson eyes never glanced away from the fire, tongues of red and yellow burning away hateful words. "I'll come in shortly."

"…If you say so…" Yugi turned and reluctantly left.

Yami stayed beside the fire, adding more kindling when it looked like the flames would die down before the holly and roses were fully burned away. The heat of the blaze was the heat of his own anger, the snapping dance of the fire the own touch of fear on his heart. Eventually, there was nothing left of anything but ash.

Yami waited a little while, standing in the garden. He breathed out, feeling the wind stir his golden bangs, feeling narrowed eyes fixed on his back. He wasn't sure…was it paranoia, if he turned around, and found it to be true? If there truly _was _someone behind him, watching him, wanting him, longing for him dead? The itchy, unsettling sensation of alien, cold eyes studying him persisted and so, steadying himself, Yami whirled around.

For an instant, he fancied he saw a flash of white. The faintest blur near the wall bordering the yard gone so quickly it might never have been there – if it had been there at all. Was he going mad?

Still disturbed, Yami gave in and headed back for the house and the warmth of the friendly fire within, the mundane chatter of the television where some poor soul was suffering some festive woe or other. A note met him on the door, in the same slanted script as before.

_You look pretty when you're angry flower, can I burn you like the roses?_

Swallowing hard Yami snatched up the note, tearing it into little pieces before flinging the scarps to the wind. Stepping quickly inside the house and shutting the door behind him just as swiftly Yami shivered.

His tremors had nothing to do with the cold.


	4. Baubles Trapshipping

**Shadow: **I'm not sure what genre this one fits into… Not quite fluff, but…meh. I give up.

_**Shipping: **__Trapshipping – _Yami no Yugi x Yugi Mouto x Yami no Bakura x Ryou Bakura.

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**4) Baubles**

"_No."_

"What do you _mean _'no'?"

"Exactly what I said – _no."_

"_Bakura-!"_

"Don't you 'Bakura' me – it's a ridiculous idea, and I fail completely to see its point."

"It's Christmas!! You can't _not _decorate the tree!"

Bakura's lips curled back in the faintest of sneers. "Watch me."

Yugi crossed his arms. _"Must _you always be so awkward?"

"Of course he must, aibou," Yami ruffled his hikari's hair as he went past with his free hand, clutching a boxful of various oddly-shaped tree baubles to his chest with the other. "This _is _Bakura, after all."

Yugi batted at the hand with a _'tch', _but smiled. "A fair point." Unabashedly he watched his other as Yami bent down to place the box beside the unadorned Christmas tree in the corner.

Ryou chuckled, catching where Yugi's gaze was straying to as he entered the room, a somewhat bulkier box full of all the other decorations in his arms. "Yami, I do believe you have an admirer."

"Hm?" The former pharaoh blinked, getting to his feet, before locking gazes with Yugi. "Ah." A flash of white teeth with a quick, rare grin.

Yugi coloured somewhat, distracting himself by reaching out to take the box from Ryou. "Where shall I put these?"

"Anywhere but near Bakura," the dry response. "They're breakable."

Yami smirked and Yugi laughed, and the latter took the box over and set it down beside the others beneath the tree. "What's even _in _here, anyway?"

"No idea." Ryou cheerfully wandered over to the sofa and sat himself on Bakura's lap, ignoring the slight glare the thief directed at him for his earlier comment. "We just threw everything we had in there last year."

"I can see…" This time it was Yami who was wryly amused, leaning over to pick out a long garland of sparkly red tinsel, a Santa hat, and a random ornament shaped like a bell (and decorated with brightly-coloured dancing reindeers).

Yugi snatched up the tinsel from his other half's hand, hanging it around his neck like a scarf, and grabbing some more tinsel – green, this time – from the box to use as a sash. More, smaller strands were used as circlets and bracelets and –

Basically, Yugi started looping tinsel everywhere on his person he could. Ryou, catching on, bounded from a bemused Bakura's knee, stealing the Santa hat from an amused Yami and looping himself with fairy lights. Both of them were laughing, well aware they looked ridiculous, Yugi giggling and twirling in his glittering apparel, smiling and taking a bow when Yami applauded him.

"What _are _you doing?" Bakura looked at the two hikaris like they were mad.

"They're having _fun_, that's what." Yami delicately stepped over the discarded tinsel now littering the floor, picking his way over to the tomb-robber so he could adopt Ryou's previous position, arms wound around the other's neck. "You do know what that word means, don't you?"

Bakura growled lightly, brown eyes dark as he glanced at where Yugi and Ryou were still playing dress-up. "…You have a warped idea of '_fun', _pharaoh."

"At least _my _idea of 'fun' doesn't involve maiming, killing, or otherwise inconveniencing other people." Soothing his bridling words somewhat Yami slid his fingers into the other's hair, laying his head on Bakura's shoulder. "Christmas is meant to be about family, Bakura. 'The season of goodwill', and all that? Maybe you should give it a try sometime. Join in with us more often during the day, as opposed to merely at night." Here Yami's tone turned a little disapproving. "Unless our only appeal to you _is _our night-time activities, in which case…"

Bakura raised an eyebrow, glancing coolly down at the seemingly placid king curled against him. "Are you _threatening _me?"

"No." Scarlet eyes were perfectly serious. "I'm warning you, so that if the situation ever comes to it, you won't be surprised."

Bakura clenched his teeth, but didn't reply. Instead, his gaze trailed back over to his hikari, and Yami's. "…I'd like to see _you _bedecked like that." Bakura's tone was scornful.

"Would it get you to lighten up somewhat?" Yami's fingers were still tangled in his hair; head a soft pressure on Bakura's shoulder.

In a thoughtful tone: "Maybe if you were naked…"

A wry eyebrow was raised. "Sorry to inform you, but I'm not dressing up in tinsel for _anyone."_

"Pity." With no warning Bakura suddenly stood up, Yami sliding off his lap and hitting the floor with a yelp. Ryou blinked, pausing his conversation with Yugi mid-word to turn around and stare. Yami flushed and scrambled to his feet, while Bakura smirked at his discomfited expression, moving over to stand beside the two hikaris. "You two look utterly stupid, and there's no way in _hell _I'm helping you decorate _that _thing." He shot the tree in the corner a disgusted look. Yami was about to protest at the other's comments, a little angry at the hurt look that had flashed across Ryou's face, but Bakura shot him a quelling look, continuing: "However, I will fetch something from the shops, if you need it, if merely to get away from this insanity. Otherwise I'm going for a walk."

"Actually, there are some things we need…" Ryou looked at his darker half a little hesitantly, taken aback by Bakura's seemingly spontaneous offer. When the other nodded he disappeared to fetch the list he always wrote out, handing it to the former tomb-robber. "Anything you can get from there would be great."

Bakura didn't say anything, merely nodding and pressing a quick kiss to Ryou's forehead, doing the same to Yugi's cheek. Then he was moving out the room, heading into the house's hallway.

Yami followed him. "Don't I get a kiss goodbye?" His tone was light.

Bakura didn't look at him, putting his coat on. "I'm not doing this for you. Or for them."

"Of course not." Hiding his smile, Yami moved to adjust the wonky lapels of the white-haired youth's outer covering. Glancing up at his slightly taller companion: "Thankyou all the same."

"Hn." Bakura bent down to kiss the other's mouth, for once chaste. Withdrawing: "I told you before, it's not for you." He moved past the once-pharaoh, opening the front door and disappearing out into the cold.

Yami rolled his eyes at the other's retreating back, inwardly pleased Bakura had listened to his words and responded – albeit in his usual, brusque way. "Of course not…"

When the thief had finally disappeared from sight he shut the door, returning to the living-room to try and convince Yugi and Ryou to actually take all the decorations off themselves and actually stick them on the tree, where they belonged.


	5. Shopping Rivalshipping

**Shadow: **Lengthened!!

_**Shipping: **__Rivalshipping – _Yugi Mouto x Seto Kaiba

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**5) Shopping**

Yugi Mouto hated crowds. Generically speaking the majority of them were a whole head and a half taller than him approximately, leading to much hell while attempting to traverse the larger crushes of people. Especially at Christmas. At Christmas, crowds were _lethal. _

And so…Yugi shopped with his friends. This was usually a great idea, as said friends were noticeably taller than him, and could probably stop him getting squished to death by scarily-obsessed mothers shoving prams about the place with a viciously threatening air. Yes, great idea. Brilliant. Fabulous. It would just be the slightest, teensy _weensy _bit better though, if his friends hadn't just _wandered off._

_Where the hell _were _they?!!_

Somewhere, somehow, between the time they'd left the last store and wandered out into the high street, Yugi had lost his friends. Sighing, the boy surveyed the crowds around him, searching desperately for a flash of blonde hair – Jounouchi – or brown hair and blue eyes – Anzu. And then:

"_Anzu!" _Yugi caught sight of his friend. Well, the tell-tale brown hair of the girl. Hastily shoving his way through the crush surrounding him Yugi headed for where he'd seen Anzu, swearing pain, death and suffering to anyone who got in his way. "Anzu!" He called again, having lost the girl, only to spot a flash of familiar blue and – "Anzu!" Yugi finally shoved his way through the crowd, latching onto the girl's arm, only –

_Since when does Anzu wear metal wristguards? _A blink, Yugi staring down at the beautiful cuffs, admiring how they shone in the lights from all the shops around.

"…Mouto?" Confusion and what sounded like something pretty close to distaste from a chilly tone above his head.

_Ohhh….kuso. _That wasn't Anzu's arm. "Kaiba." Blushing, embarrassed, Yugi swiftly let go of the brunet's arm. "Gomen, I thought you were someone else."

"Obviously," Kaiba Seto's voice never warmed any, but took on a vaguely derisive amused quality, "otherwise I might be a little worried you're calling me after your girlfriend."

"She's not my -" Yugi faltered, hesitating. It _could _just be wishful thinking, but recently he'd thought he'd noticed Anzu glancing at him a little more often, smiling a little…_differently… _

"Of _course _she's not your girlfriend." Sarcasm. Kaiba stood firm against the wave of shoppers that swirled about them, Yugi taking shelter from the masses in the lee of the stone.

"She's not." Yugi lifted his chin, not about to stand there and willingly let himself be ridiculed. "And I'm sorry I mistook you for her Kaiba, it was a little hard to see past all these people. Since you're so obviously busy I'd best -"

"Did you lose her?"

"I – _what?" _A blink of purple eyes, Yugi a little confused by the other's abrupt question.

"Did you lose her?" Kaiba repeated the question, tone a little impatient. "In the crowds?"

"I…yes." A sheepish admittance, Yugi colouring faintly. "Jounouchi too. We were all Christmas shopping together." Kaiba didn't comment on Yugi's mention of the blond, but by the brunet's expression Yugi could tell the CEO wasn't very impressed with his choice of shopping companions… "I'd best go find them."

"Don't bother." Kaiba stood a little taller. "It's impossible to find anyone in these crowds. I left Mokuba back at the manor because…" A long pause.

"…Because you didn't want to lose him?" Yugi suggested helpfully.

"Yes." Blue eyes looked down at him, cool and clear and perfectly unreadable. "Because I didn't want to lose him."

"That makes sense I suppose…" Another uncomfortable silence. Yugi was painfully aware of time ticking by. "Kaiba, I really need to go find my friends…"

"You'll never find them by foot." Dismissive.

"Kaiba, I need to at least _try –" _Something cool and plastic was pushed into Yugi's hands, "-huh?" A mobile phone? "Kaiba, I -?"

"Call them on this and arrange to meet up somewhere." An order, brusque. "Otherwise you'll never find them."

_That makes sense, I suppose… _"Arigatou, Kaiba." Yugi flipped the phone open, a little surprised at the brunet's unusual generosity, but not about to complain. He himself didn't have a phone – Kaiba _knew _that, because Mokuba had asked for his number once and he'd had to say he didn't have one, but for Kaiba to still _remember _that…

He got through to Anzu, and at once burst into a quick chatter with the frantic girl, trying to reassure Anzu he wasn't dead or injured or maimed or anything of the sort and yes, yes they'd meet up by that store with the giant reindeer outside the front entrance in two minutes and he'd have to be quick –

Yugi said his goodbyes, closing the phone and handing it back to an impassive Kaiba. "Arigatou."

"Don't mention it." The CEO pocketed the technology silently. Yugi stood there awakwrdly. A slender eyebrow was raised in his direction. "What are you waiting for? Don't you have to meet up with your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend." Yugi hesitated a little longer, before adding: "Merry Christmas, Kaiba."

The other eyebrow joined the first, but blue eyes looked his way, focusing on him. "Your girlfriend's waiting."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"If you say so." Kaiba looked away.

Yugi rolled his eyes. "Goodbye, Kaiba." He gave the other a quick bow, about to dart off into the crush of people once more when –

"Yugi?" Kaiba's voice.

"Hai?" The named youth glanced back over his shoulder.

The barest thread of a smile at the corners of Kaiba's lips. "Try not to go clinging to other young men and calling them 'Anzu' anymore. You may dent someone's ego."

Yugi smiled, blushing, and then ran off to meet up with Jounouchi and Anzu.


	6. Those With Wings Stoicshipping

**Shadow: **Quite a peaceful, almost dreamy one this time, I think. Suppose it fits the pairing – stoicshipping just doesn't scream _flufffff _to me. (wry grin)

_**Shipping: **__Stoicshipping – _Seto Kaiba x Priest Seth

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**6) Those With Wings**

_Tap. Tap. Tap-tappity-tap. Click. Click. Tap-tap-tap._

The study was quiet aside from the tapping of keys.

_Tap-tappity-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. Tap. Click._

The occasional click of the mouse.

_Click. Tap-tap-tap. Tappity-tap-tap. Click. Tap-tap._

The faint sounds of the wind blowing outside, the breath of the occupants within.

_Tap-tap. Click. Tappity-tap._

It was peaceful.

Seth breathed out softly, watching his breath mist the cold glass beside his head. He sat, one leg tucked beneath him, back against the wall, forehead pressed against the window. Time ticked by slowly, calmly, marked only by the tapping away in the study proper, where Seto Kaiba sat coolly typing at his laptop at his desk. The wood beneath the computer gleamed at Seth, from the corner of his eye. Outside in the gardens, a small red-breasted bird courted a raven to steal crumbs from the bird-table, darting in to steal the stray scraps, much to the larger bird's discontent. A never-ending battle of wills, a continuous fight.

Seth broke the silence, attention only half on the gardens outside. "The…what do you call that bird again?"

"Hm?" Kaiba paused in his typing, glancing to the youth curled up into the window alcove, arms wrapped around himself. "What bird?"

"That one." A gentle nod to the gardens.

Saving his work and closing the laptop Kaiba crossed to stand beside Seth, placing one hand on the other's shoulder as he followed the line of the other's gaze. "A robin."

"It is quite a daring little fluff of feathers, is it not?"

"Hai." Companionable silence for a little longer, Kaiba lightly squeezing Seth's shoulder and about to turn away –

Seth caught his arm, blue eyes so startlingly similar to his own vivid against his tanned skin. "Why doesn't it fly away?"

That was…rather an ambiguous question. Kaiba shrugged, aware of the fingers digging into his lower arm. "Perhaps it has things it needs to do here. Eat, for one."

"But surely it wishes it could open its wings and fly away? Food, sleep…such things are inconsequential. The sky is open to those who can touch it…"

"It is a bird, Seth. I doubt it has such complex thoughts." Kaiba did not perhaps mean it, but his voice took on a dismissive quality.

"You dream of flying." Seth's tone became vaguely accusing in response, his grip tightening on the other.

"I not only dream; I have flown before."

"Peh – _machines." _A snort. "You cannot truly fly in those things of metal._" _Seth dismissed his companion's comment. "When I say 'fly', Seto Kaiba, I mean upon a dragon's back, with the sun upon your back and the wind blowing in your hair."

"As you have done." Challenging.

"As I have done." Firm.

Kaiba met Seth's clear gaze with a sigh. "You should have been born a dragon… We both should have." His pale hand, slightly cool due to the temperature of the room, was laid atop the one encircling his forearm.

"What are you talking about? We _were _born dragons – I can see it in your eyes." Seth reached up to pull Seto down to him, seating the other youth beside him and taking the other's face in his hands. "I witness storms there, tempests that rock the world and whip the seas up into great frenzy. I feel the wind batter me, the lightning's crackle raising every nerve within me 'mongst the thunder's roar. I see the great dragon within you rise, Seto Kaiba, flex its magnificent wings against the confines of mortal flesh, raise itself from the shadows in the pit of your soul to soaring heights, defying creation with stunning, terrible beauty."

Kaiba returned to himself, stubbornness and brazenness causing him to meet the same eyes this other him described, Seth's sapphire orbs a liquid mirror of his own. "…How very poetic." The window was cold where his arm touched it, even though it was felt through a layer of cloth. "Did it take you long to invent that analogy, or did you just make it up on the spot?"

Seth looked at him coolly for a few moments and then smiled, slowly. Stretching his neck, he pressed a single chaste kiss to the other's brow.

Kaiba looked back at him, feeling the imprint of Seth's lips against his skin long after the other had taken them away. "…I don't understand you."

"Yes, Seto Kaiba, you do." Taking his hands back Seth stood smoothly, long and sinuous, skin a little cold from being pressed against cold glass so long. "You just need some time to realise the fact." He left the study, feet padding swiftly across the floor. Kaiba went back to looking out the window, a thousand words upon the tip of his tongue, and none of them making any sense at all to him.

The robin had finally eaten its fill, and flown away.


	7. Christmas Lights Monarchshipping

**Shadow: **Kinda sweet this time again. I don't think this counts as fluff _exactly…_but…I dunno. Is it? Anyway, this pairing needs more love. _Much _more love. Love it, somebody? (hopeful smile)

_**Shipping: **__Monarchshipping – _Yami no Yugi x Pharaoh Atem

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**7) Christmas Lights**

To look upon them standing there brought a smile to everyone's lips who passed.

Twins, most surmised, both dressed in velvety black from throat down, long coats falling to their mid-thigh. Their fingertips were twined together, encased in black wool to protect them from the cold, one long scarf wrapped around both their necks as the paler of the two lay his head against the other's shoulder.

They cut quite a pretty scene, the two of them, curled up together on a bench in the town square with the various coloured lights twinkling and flashing above their heads. Cerise eyes, warm as flames followed the antics in amusement, sighing in delight as they fell upon lights arrayed together like a curtain of stars.

Together, they really were the royal 'we'. Seamlessly, their coats blurred together under the night, a curving, delicate mass topped with twin crowns of ebony, ruby and gold. Beautiful faces. Beautiful eyes. One of them was white as snow, the other a light tan.

"They're beautiful." A comment from the darker one, his tone wondering as his free hand reached up into the sky, as if to touch the thousand and one lights above, the stars of heaven above them further still.

"I know." Yami smiled at Atemu, his golden bangs dangling in front of his face as he sat up a little straighter, raising his head. Brushing a hand across the smooth skin, Atemu reached out to tuck the errant fringe behind his lover's ear. "Yugi took me to see them for the first time last year."

"Yugi…" A vague smile touched the corners of Atemu's lips. He was truly fond of the smaller boy, as Yami was, the little light's exuberance and sheer joy for life hard to resist. "Did you not wish to go with him again this year to look at them?"

Yami hesitated a little before answering. "Do…I…I think the winter lights…" he glanced up to the sky, his tone soft, "they're special. And this winter…" He went back to lean his head on Atemu's shoulder, "I wished to share them with you. Yugi is my light, my aibou, but…" an incomprehensible noise, "must I explain it? It's…only you."

Atemu smiled again, leaning back into the seat behind them. Time went by. The lights above them continued to glow, and the night above got darker, the stars coming out more clearly. Yami yawned.

"Tired?"

A nod from the paler of them. "A little. It's been a long day."

"Should we head back to the game shop?"

"…If…you don't mind?"

"Not at all." As Yami shifted from his shoulder Atemu stood, extending his hand towards the other youth. Yami took it gratefully, their gloved fingers twining together once more. "Let's go through the park."

"Alright…"

Their walk home was slow, meandering, winding its way around the park's bending paths, along the pavements under the streetlights all the way back to the game shop. The place was empty that night, save them – grandpa was out visiting old friends who were in town for a week or so, Yugi was over at Tristan's with Joey. It was why Yami had taken Atemu out to see the lights in the first place.

About to switch the light in the living room on so he could see what he was doing, Yami felt a hand curl around his wrist, halting him. "Don't." A little bemused, Yami looked at his lover. Atemu smiled a little mysteriously, releasing the other's hand and pulling his gloves off, dropping them on a sideboard. "We don't need them, do we?"

"If you say so…" Yami slid his coat off his shoulders, tucking his own gloves in the covering's pockets before wandering back out into the house's hall to hang it up. Walking back into the living-room he was met by a warm body, familiar arms winding about his waist and holding him, a head lying on his shoulder, lips against his neck. A candle had been lit in the window, small flame shining perfectly in the dark of the room. "Atemu…?"

Kisses trailed up his throat, soft as the murmur from the youth in whose arms he stood, smoky as the vaguest scent of sandalwood that whispered against his skin. "…Egypt is warm this night…"

Vaguely amused and vaguely confused both at the somewhat cryptic comment, Yami arched his neck, allowing Atemu more skin to touch, his own arms curling around the other boy's shoulders. "…Atemu, the desert is cold at night. _Freezing, _in fact. You know this." His hair fell about his eyes, blocking them from his lover's view.

"I am not speaking of the desert…" Fondly, Atemu tucked the golden fringe behind Yami's ears, a familiar gesture. "_You _are my Egypt, _the _Egypt, my blood and my home. Beautiful, proud, strong. _Mine."_

"How possessive of you…" More kisses, Yami pleasantly warm now, enjoying the attention. Shifting his head he brushed lips across the mouth caressing him, initiating a kiss there, slow, sweet. Breaking for air, forehead resting against Atemu's. "I never took you for being sentimental."

A shrug, Atemu leaning in for another kiss, longer this time. "…I have my moments." Withdrawing again, undoing Yami's hold about him and pulling the other with him to the room's sofa, laying down there and pulling his companion with him.

Yami hmmed softly, amused once more. Pressed so closely to his lover, the vibrations of his throat sent a pleasant shiver through both of them. Content, warm, he pressed his head against Atemu's chest, listening to the pharaoh's heart beating. It was a reassuring sound, constant. The candle at the window burned brightly, and the darkness curled around them, inviting and deep.

Atemu and Yami fell asleep there, still wound about each other, side by side, and dreamed of Christmas lights.


	8. Snowflakes Timeshipping

**Shadow: **In a hurry today… (dashes off)

_**Shipping: **__Timeshipping – _Seto Kaiba x Pharaoh Atemu

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**8) Snowflakes**

Atemu stood in the personal living-room of the Kaiba manor, and shivered. Though the home's central heating had been on for a long while he was still cold, his arms wrapped around himself as he stood at the window and glared out at the white stuff falling from the sky, carpeting the grounds in a thick, unfriendly-looking blanket.

A familiar voice from the doorway behind him: "It's useless standing there glowering at the snow, you realise. It isn't sentient."

"You are home early." Atemu doesn't bother to turn around, knowing the other will cross over to him soon enough. "Special occasion?" His reply is in the same tongue as the address – a year and a half in Domino is more than enough time for someone of his intelligence to pick up a language.

"It started snowing again, and the world went mad." Sounds of a briefcase being dropped beside the sofa. "It's impossible to keep anyone's attention this close to Christmas if it begins to snow…" Footsteps, and a vague warmth as the other walks over to him, stands at his side.

"I don not know why." Atemu's tone is somewhat bitter. "It is _freezing."_

A raised eyebrow, Atemu catching the motion on Seto's face out of the corner of his eye. "…Maybe you'd be a little warmer if you didn't insist on wearing only a skirt all the time."

"It is _not _a skirt." Atemu scowled at him. "And don't you _dare _try and suggest you don't like what I wear. You spend most of the time I am with you either staring at my legs, my ass, or both."

"I never said I didn't like what you wear," approaching the other, Seto laid a hand on both of Atemu's hips, "only…during the winter season, wouldn't something more…_there _be more appropriate?"

"…'More _there'?"_

"As in, slightly more than a scrap of cloth about your upper half and waist." Smirking faintly Kaiba drew the other a little closer to him – his smug expression vanishing instantly when the shock of Atemu's chilled metal jewellery hit his skin. "…_Shit. _You _are _freezing."

"Of course I am, asshole." Defiant, though amused, crimson eyes looked up at him. "Why else would I be shivering?"

"Fair point…" Unwilling to be pressed so close against such cold metal Kaiba raised a hand, carefully undoing the necklace around his lover's throat, the bracelets on Atemu's wrists. When the other looked as if he were about to protest – "_Myoujou, _don't complain. These are making _you _cold too." The ornaments hit the floor with a series of quiet _chings. _

When the jewellery had gone, Atemu leaned against Kaiba unashamedly, sliding his arms inside the jacket the other still wore and about Seto's waist. Why was the brunet so _warm? _He raised his chin, looking up with a query. "Why is the snow so cold? It falls from the sky like the rains, and yet…" a pause, "it's different."

"Snow is just…basically _ice, _Atemu – frozen water." Kaiba seemed amused by the other's attempts to keep warm. "It's just like hail – completely frozen water, except each individual snowflake is made up of lots and lots of tiny little ice crystals, all woven together."

"…What use is solid water that falls from the sky? It cannot water the earth if it cannot sink into the soil. How do things grow?"

"Nothing much grows in winter, Atemu." Kaiba couldn't help it – he smiled at the other's stricken face. "Everything…goes to sleep, for a little while, waiting for spring." His tone was reassuring, soothing. "The snows melt then, and everything stirs."

A long, thoughtful pause. "…You are home all day now due to the weather?"

"Yes."

"...I am still cold."

"I can tell." Atemu was still curled against Kaiba, his skin chilled. "This isn't the warmest place in the house, you know."

A frown from the pharaoh. "Where is warmer?"

"Our bed."

"But that is only warm if -" Atemu caught the glance Seto was shooting his way. He coloured, "-_oh." _Another pause. "Asshole, do you think of nothing else?"

Traces of laughter echoed in Kaiba's voice, even as he drew away from his flushed lover. "Such _endearments, _Atemu." He went to the room's door. "Are you coming? Bring your skirt with you."

"Seto Kaiba, it is _not _a skirt!" Atemu was indignant, but the taller youth had already vanished out the door. "Come back here!" He ran after the other.

By the time he caught up with Seto the other had reached the bedroom, and then Atemu had no problems keeping warm then.


	9. Bitter Cold Antagoshipping

**Shadow: **I only like this pairing because I'm writing an oneshot for someone that includes it, and…well…it's grown on me.

_**Shipping: **__Antagoshipping – _Seto Kaiba x Yami no Bakura

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**9) Bitter Cold**

His lips were cold as ice.

Kaiba sat there, perfectly still, his only reaction to the freezing touch against the nape of his neck a pause in his typing. The brunet didn't even bother turning around. "What do you think you're doing here?"

A chuckle in his ear, hands pressing against both of Kaiba's shoulders. "I'm impressed; you didn't even jump."

"Did you really expect me to?" Kaiba could feel a cold wind blowing upon his back where another body didn't block it – the window was open, explaining how the other had gotten in.

"No, not really, but…well," a cool, amused smile in the words, "I can dream, can't I?"

"Go dream somewhere else." The typing had resumed. "I have work to do."

A low growl, lips back to the soft skin of Kaiba's neck, teeth cruelly biting down. Frostbite.

A sharp inhalation, but the typing never paused. "If that leaves a mark I'll kill you."

Bakura drew back with a laugh, admiring his handiwork, caressing it absentmindedly with long, pale fingers. "Always with the death-threats, Kaiba Seto. One would think you didn't like me."

"Then they'd think right." Irritably, the brunet shook the other off. "Now go away, I'm busy."

"You're _always _busy."

"And always _will _be whenever you come calling."

"Mau, mau, Seto-koi, don't you love me?" Bakura's tone was saccharine sweet, his chin propped annoying on the top of Kaiba's head. "You wound me."

"I'll do a hell of a lot worse if you don't leave. _Now." _Irritated, Kaiba span around on his chair, gripping the other's wrists harshly when Bakura staggered, almost falling into his lap. _"Go."_

"You're throwing me out into the cold?" Wickedness gleamed in dark eyes. "Seto _Kaiba…_and so close to Christmas too! Does your little brother know his nii-sama is a Scrooge?"

"I think he'd be too astonished at the fact you've even read enough literature to _make _that comment to listen to anything else you have to say."

A dramatic sigh from the former tomb-robber. _"Again _with the insults. And here I was holding a civil conversation with you -"

"-For a change."

"-While you keep interrupting me with your snide remarks." Bakura looked mock-stern.

"…If you expect me to hunt out my manners for _you,_ you've quite another thing coming, Bakura." Kaiba's tone was cold.

"Don't bother." Bakura carefully extracted one of his wrists from the other's firm grip, examining the vague impression strong fingers had left upon his skin. "I don't have the time to waste that it would take you to conduct a search." At the other's scowl Bakura yanked free his other arm, rubbing at it to restore his blood circulation as he plonked himself none-too-gently-in Kaiba's lap, the wheeled chair beneath them moving across the floor a little at the extra weight. "You malign me." He pressed a kiss to the brunet's temple.

"You annoy me, so we're equal." Kaiba shoved the other of his knee, listening with some satisfaction as Bakura hit the floor. "You can go now."

Glaring, Bakura scrambled to his feet. "Anyone would think you didn't like me."

"_No…_really?" Sarcasm as thick as the walls guarding Kaiba's safe. "I don't know where they'd get that idea from."

A little sulkily, Bakura shoved the CEO's chair away from the desk he'd been working on, pushing Kaiba's laptop to one side so he could hop up onto the polished wood for a seat. "You treat me this way every time I show up here, Kaiba." He dangled his legs over the desk's edge.

"And yet you never seem to take the hint." Kaiba stood, stalking over to the other before pointing to the still-open window. _"Leave. _You've sufficiently vexed me for today."

"Ah…but anyone can vex you…" Bakura pressed a hand to the brunet's chest, smirking when blue eyes glanced down at him, "I prefer to be unique." While the other frowned at such a strange comment Bakura leaned upwards against Kaiba to steal a kiss from the other's part-open mouth.

That close Kaiba could tell that Bakura smelled of evergreens, the fresh air, the winter wind outside. The thief was a cool, heavy pressure against him, leaning on Kaiba's chest for balance, his lips moving insistently over the brunet's, soft and _cold._ Becoming vaguely aware of the somewhat more heated tongue invading his mouth, the hands wrapping around his neck to pull him down more firmly, Kaiba slowly recovered from the state of surprise his mind seemed to have fallen into, breaking the lip-lock with Bakura when he'd finally regained clarity by abruptly grabbing the tomb-robber's hips, picking the other up and dumping him rudely in the swivelling chair. _"Leave." _

Bakura laughed a little breathlessly, a little wildly, his white hair swinging about his rather elfin face as he got to his feet. "I think I shall." He wandered over to the window, perching himself on the sill before leaning back to ask: "Going to give me a kiss goodbye, sweetheart?"

With a growl Kaiba lunged almost as if to push the other, but with one last – _infuriating – _laugh, Bakura was gone. Pissed, and not willing to be seen looking to where the tomb-robber had gone Kaiba slammed his windows shut, locking them firmly and returning to his abandoned laptop. His lips were still tingling from Bakura's stolen kiss. _Thief. _He knew the other would be back again, most likely the next day, or the one after.

He was still trying to work out whether that was such a very bad thing…


	10. Mistletoe Kamishipping

**Shadow: **yet again, no time!!! (runs away) 

**_Shipping: _**_Kamishipping – _Seto Kaiba x Jounouchi Katsuya x Yami no Yugi

**Little Gifts **

**10) Mistletoe **

Kaiba's work for the day was done – at least, his work _at _KaibaCorp. There was still some more typing he could do, but he knew he could get that done easily enough at home – even _if _the three other members of his household were determined to hold a Christmas party that night, and invite all their 'friends'. Surely he could get finished before then..?

And so, Kaiba had _arrived _home, breezing through to the living room, following the sounds of laughter and sword-fighting that had echoed at him from the moment he'd set foot inside the Kaiba manor. He'd fully expected to see at least one of his lovers and his little brother, no doubt playing around with some gaming console or other. What he _hadn't _expected, however, was to see them through a haze of green stuff hanging down from the door's uppermost lintel, dangling at the most opportune height to hit him smack in the face.

"What is _this?" _Distastefully, Kaiba took a step back from the hanging plant that had attacked him, staring at it with more than a little dislike.

Yami didn't even bother to look up from the screen the game he was playing with Mokuba was on, artfully brandishing his right hand as a sword – it seemed the two were playing with their wiis? "Mistletoe."

"I can _see _that." Kaiba ducked under the named plant, a little pissy the other hadn't even glanced up to greet him. "I mean, what's it doing here?"

A shrug, Yami raising his left arm – his shield? – to block some incoming attack of some weird…blob-thing of a monster. "See Jou. _He's _the one attacking any bit of free space with greenery. He' strung all our bedrooms with mistletoe and ivy."

"Oh…that's -" a thought suddenly hit Kaiba, "even Mokuba's?"

"Mine?" Mokuba paused the game, not quite as good at multi-tasking as Yami, looking up at his older brother. Yami, following his cue, did the same. "I've only got holly in my room, nii-san. Jou was gonna stick some ivy in there too, but Yami said you might not like that, going by ivy's associations an' all..." A slightly dry tone entered the teen's voice. "The leaves for love and drunkenness were perfectly fine for _your _bedrooms though."

Yami smothered a laugh as blue eyes turned to glare at him. "You _condoned _this madness?"

The former pharaoh smiled innocently at his lover, twirling his wii's nunchuck absent-mindedly with one hand. "Truthfully, I find it rather sweet."

_"'Sweet'?" _A twitch.

"Yes, _sweet." _Yami repeated the dreaded word. "Jou's put a lot of hard work into his decorating, and it shows."

_"Why?" _

"Why _what?" _

"Why's he decorating everywhere with _plants?" _Kaiba finally put his silver briefcase down; making a sweeping gesture around him to the room he could now see was covered in intricately woven branches of holly, rowan, mistletoe and ivy.

"To make everything look nice for winter…?" Yami's words were more of a question than a statement, the fiery youth only shrugging once more when his taller boyfriend glowered at him for such a vague, unsatisfying answer. "Don't ask me; _I _don't get this Christmas thing the rest of you are so fascinated with…"

"It's traditional, Yami." Mokuba leapt in with an answer. "It's…didn't you used to celebrate your gods' birthdays back in Egypt? Well…Christmas is the celebration of the Christian God's birth – only, it's become such a widespread, general thing most people celebrate it now, even if they're atheist, or of another religious denomination."

"And…the mistletoe…?"

"More tradition. Some plants have certain meanings attached to them and mistletoe…" Mokuba trailed off with a laugh. "I'm surprised Jou-chan hasn't shown you, yet. I'm sure he would, if you asked. Or Seto."

"What…?" Yami turned to the brunette with an inquiring gaze.

"…I'll tell you later." Kaiba gave his brother a meaningful glare when Mokuba smirked knowingly at him, the younger boy only laughing again and quickly unpausing his game to steal Yami's attention away from the subject of mistletoe, and back to monster-slaying.

A little frustrated Yami frowned after Kaiba's departing back – the other had made a speedy escape out of the room and no doubt up to his study -, but bowed to Mokuba's silent request and resumed set about kicking monster-butt with the best of his wii-brandishing abilities.

* * *

Jounouchi Katsuya was, to put it mildly, more than a little drunk. He'd lost count of the amount of mulled wine he'd gone through, not to mention the punch a certain albino thief had spiked after swiping some vodka from Kaiba's spirit cupboard – and the cupboard had been _locked, _mind you. _Locked. _As in sealed with a keypad – Kaiba had encountered Yugi-tachi's sneaky ways when confronted with alcohol before –, 'three locks and _a big shiny brand new friggin' padlock'_ locked. (Kaiba swore he was going to wring Bakura's neck one day for going through his alcohol defences – and the alcohol itself – so quickly. Wring his neck, smash his head in (especially if he kept trying to chat up Yami when both of them were somewhat inebriated), choke the life out of him and then bury him six feet under where the worms could eat at his rotting flesh. And then maybe hire him for KaibaCorp. The ass knew how to disable a good defence so; theoretically, he should be able to build one too. The job was his (and his death would be long, slow and _painful _if he so much as _glanced _at Yami in a way Kaiba didn't like). Yes. That would be good.) 

But back to Jounouchi. Somewhat drunk he was more than happy to bask in the praise for his decorating skills, sticking his tongue out at Kaiba when the other muttered something – most likely derogative – about 'bloody plants' and 'irritating lovers he wasn't sure why the hell he kept'. For once, Jou had shrugged the mutters off, merely petting the other on the head as he went past and receiving a swift kiss in return. _Erk…_Seto was being sociable of his own free will? The world was gonna end.

Yami had finally caught on about the mistletoe. Catching sight of what looked like Marik about to kiss Mokuba on under some sprig or other the pharaoh had hurried over, pushing Mokuba gently out of the way despite the teen's protests. If Kaiba saw his little brother being kissed he'd most likely blow the roof, and Yami had no desire for the Christmas party to end on such a bad note. The only problem with pushing Mokuba out of the way though, was that _he _got kissed instead.

Withdrawing sharply from the – thankfully _chaste -_ kiss Yami was bout to blast Marik's head off – only to be met with the other's careful smile, a warm hand laying steadyingly on his shoulder. "_Relax, _Pharaoh. Don't you know it's traditional to kiss under the mistletoe?"

"It…it is?" A blink, Yami taken by surprise, his anger (and the golden eye that had momentarily flashed upon his forehead) dying down.

"Uh-huh." Marik pointed about the room, to where _other _couples occasionally pecked each other on the cheek or lips. Only the more established couples were full-on making out and –

"Oh." Yami coloured. "Sorry."

"Nah, don't worry about it." Marik flapped his apology away. "Just…go have some fun." He ginned lightly. "Go…'punish' your boyfriends for not informing you about mistletoe earlier on. I need to find my rat of a boyfriend."

"He's um…I think I saw him in the kitchen before…" Yami watched, still a little embarrassed, as Marik sped off to retrieve Bakura from whatever stupid act alcohol had prompted him to do _this _time around. The party swung on around him. Seto passed by. "Hey." He reached out, snagging the other's arm. Blue eyes looked at him. "I found out about mistletoe."

"Oh?" Kaiba smiled suddenly, drawing a little closer, so that he could enfold the other in his arms. "What about it?"

Yami smiled back at him, reaching up as if to kiss him – and pointedly stopping short, inches from the brunet's lips. "I'll tell you later." He extracted himself from Kaiba's arms, laughing teasingly at the other's frustrated expression.

"Yami-"

_"Later." _Cheerfully, Yami sashayed across the room, plonked himself deliberately in Jounouchi's lap just to further irritate Kaiba, and proceeded to have a good time. The blonde quickly cottoned on to what he was doing, and for the _n_th time Kaiba cursed his lovers' existences.

He made sure to put all the ivy and mistletoe in their bedrooms to good use later that night.


	11. Slip and Slide Polarshipping

**Shadow: **(laughs) oh my, the first _het _couple of this lot? What _is _the world coming to…? And oh – I malign Joey. I do. But I love him…

_**Shipping: **__Polarshipping – _Joey Wheeler x Mai Valentine

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**11) Slip and Slide**

Joey Wheeler took a run up; leapt on to the ice-slide he'd 'built' with his two friends Yugi Mouto and Tristan Taylor, and promptly fell over.

"Man…" Tristan leaned on the railing of a nearby fence, watching the blonde make a prat of himself, "Joey, you suck."

Joey picked himself up, scowling. "Let's see _you _do it if you're so great then!"

A roll of eyes, but Tristan obediently took a run-up and launched himself at the slide much like his American friend had done before, only…he executed the full slide _perfectly. _It was rather an average performance, but it was more than Joey had managed. "Oh yeah," Tristan hopped off at the other end, gleeful, "I rock."

"I can do that!" Joey determinedly stalked off for another try, only to be caught by Yugi's hand at his elbow, the smaller youth's gaze concerned.

"Joey, are you sure you're not going to hurt yourself…?"

"I'll be _fine, _Yug'." The blonde appeared to be psyching himself up. "Just watch, I'm gonna _ace _this slide!"

"Let's see it then, genius." Tristan crossed his arms over his chest. Joey huffed at him, preparing for another run.

Yugi tried again. "Joey-"

The American ignored him, jumped upon the slide, and promptly fell over once more.

"Joey Wheeler…" A new voice spoke, causing Yugi and Tristan to raise their eyes from where they'd been looking at their fallen friend, Joey blushing and scrambling up rather awkwardly from his icy seat to greet the new arrival. "Do you _never _learn?"

"Mai!" Joey was mortified the woman had watched him fall over. Man…why did he always have to make an idiot of himself in front of Mai?

The woman smiled. "Hi. Yugi, Tristan…" She nodded to the two other teens. "How's life been?"

"The usual." Tristan shrugged.

Yugi was a little more elaborate, asking sweetly: "So…what're you doing in Domino, Mai? Last I heard you were still out in America."

"I felt like a change in scenery." Mai was dressed for the winter weather, a tight jumper covering her upper half, long, slim jeans and boots protecting her from the cold. "Thought I'd come visit some…old friends over the Christmas period. It's just a fluke I met you all here though…I was off shopping."

"It's wonderful to see you." Yugi was still as welcoming as ever. "Have you got anything planned for the big day itself? Everyone else is coming over to the game shop in the evening; if you like, you could come too."

"That'd be nice, thankyou Yugi." Mai smiled. "Hey…do you want to come get a coffee with me? All of you." She glanced to Joey and Tristan too, her eyes lingering a little longer on the former. "We could talk, catch up on news."

Tristan beamed. "That's be-"

Yugi yanked the other boy down, and clamped a hand over the brunet's mouth. At the bemused look his two blonde companions shot him he merely smiled innocently. "I'm sorry Mai, Tristan and I would _love _to go but – well. We have…Christmas things to do." He tried to look secretive and meaningful, but failed rather spectacularly.

"Um…" Mai looked a little confused.

"Joey's free though." The smallest of their party added helpfully.

"I am?" Joey stood there stupidly.

"You _are." _More meaningful looks from Yugi, a muffled blather of noise from Tristan.

"Then…I guess I am?" Joey looked to Mai. "Still up for that coffee?"

The woman laughed, apparently catching on to Yugi's idea, taking a step towards the brown-eyed youth. "Yes, I -" one of the heels she wore hit a patch of ice and she skidded, about to fall and –

And strong arms caught her, Joey having launched himself onto the slide, leapt off it, and caught Mai – all without losing his balance. Yes, he was cool. Ha. He'd _told _Tristan he could use the slide. Just…why did it have to be when he wasn't trying…?

Tristan finally pried Yugi's hand away from his mouth. "…Wow." He whistled.

Mai blushed a little, hanging in rather a compromising position in Joey's arms. "…You can let me go now."

Going a little red himself, Joey hastily let the female go. "Sorry."

"No…don't apologise." Mai smoothed out her ruffled clothes. "You saved me a fall, so thankyou."

Joey smiled. "Coffee?" he was on top of the world. He was great, he was fantastic, and he was the coolest thing _ever._

"Coffee." Mai smiled once more in return, and began walking off down the street. "See you two later." She waved a hand goodbye to Yugi and Tristan.

Joey pointed a thumb at the departing woman. "What she said." And darted after her. Yugi merely laughed behind him, Tristan looking a little lost, but Joey didn't care. His ego was full-inflated, his pride restored, he was walking down the street with perhaps the most beautiful woman in the world -

And then he put his foot down oddly on a patch of ice, and skidded into a lamppost.


	12. Winter Dance Prideshipping

**Shadow: **The first of these little things in first person. Ah…I'm running behind with the days, aren't I? I'm busy with mock-tests, essays and piles upon piles of notes – I'll try and catch up over the weekend?

_**Shipping: **__Prideshipping – _Seto Kaiba x Yami no Yugi

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**12) Winter Dance**

I'm going to kill Mokuba, I am. Or at least deprive him of all sugar-laden snacks for a few months – yes…that'll be appropriate. He can eat that foul cereal all day that tastes of cardboard, with a few measly raisins thrown in. He's always trying to get me to eat that stuff in the mornings, and it'll be good for him to get a taste of his own medicine, so to speak.

I have these evenings. Corporate affairs hosted by some wannabe socialite or other, the perfect opportunity over the festive season for all the puffed-up businessmen in Japan to cluster together over vintage champagne and artistically arranged canapés, grinding politely into the dust the dreams of your opponents with the expensive, designer stiletto heels of your escort, companion or wife, smiling sweetly and shoving metaphorical daggers into each others' backs. They're so…

"Kaiba-kun, have you seen the view from up here? It's amazing!" _Ah. _My only highlight of this evening – possibly the only reason I'm actually here. Again, Mokuba's fault.

"I don't believe I have…" I consent to be pulled over to the large window dominating two of the room's four 'walls', staring out at the lights of Tokyo at night-time. Towers stretch up into the sky everywhere, neon flashing and glowing, sparkling lights scattered here and there. This is a tall tower we're in, and the view is quite breathtaking. But then…not all of the view is outside…

Yami is standing at my side, lovely under the dimmed glow from the lamps around us. (This end of the room is darkened somewhat, so the guests can suitably admire the view outside.) The expensive suit he wears I bought for him earlier today, dark black and tailor-made, clinging to his form perfectly. His eyes are bright, his cheeks a little flushed – I guess the alcohol we've been sipping since seven is beginning to have a bit of an effect on him. His smile, when he looks at me, is warm.

"Thank you for inviting me, Kaiba."

I raise one eyebrow, keeping my voice deliberately cool as I sweep an arm back across the room behind us, at the arrogant men and women who plot each other's destruction so pleasantly, the powerful families holding the reins of the business – and not quite a bit of the political – world. "Even though I brought you to this party? I didn't think my fellow guests were so interesting." I knew he could hold his own here.

A small laugh – Yami should laugh more often, the sound sounds wonderful compared to his usual scorn. Do Yugi's little bunch of idiots hear him make this magical sound often? "I care not for the businessmen, Kaiba-kun. Rather…maybe it's the food, maybe it's the view. Maybe it's being up so high…" Yami actually _twirls, _smiling a little breathlessly my way. My heart jumps for a millisecond. Is he trying to-? "I do believe I'm quite giddy."

I can't help my wry response. "That's called _alcohol, _Mouto. It's going straight to your head."

He ignores the jibe, moving back over to the window and leaning against it, forehead resting against the glass. "Tokyo is beautiful… I've never seen a city so big." He's like a little boy, childishly entranced by all the pretty lights…

I'm glad I brought him. Mokuba knew for a while I – it's difficult to explain. It's like reaching out to touch a television screen, that faint crackle of static... An electric shock, a sharp jolt when your hand touches metal, hairs standing up on your head. It's like that. It's…attraction, and it's undeniable, and I get that very same jolt whenever his eyes glance up from under their long, dark lashes, and meet mine. Electric.

And he's annoying as hell. More than once I've been physically close to strangling him, held back only by the fact my brother was present at each time and there was no way I was going to commit murder in front of Mokuba. But how I've _longed_ to wrap my hands around his pretty neck sometimes and choke the life out of him… How _dare _he talk back to me the way he does? Stand up me like he does? He's a whole head and a bit shorter than me and yet he still commands as much respect as I, and he's just so damn –

I was coerced into asking Yami to attend this party with me by Mokuba. I cannot remember the exact wording of my 'sweet' little brother's argument, but its paraphrase ran something like: 'if you don't ask him out, I'll tell him you like him.'

I'd dearly love to kill whoever taught my brother such efficient blackmail; only I don't think I want to be committing suicide anytime soon.

And so – I invited Yami to this party, nearly begging – as close to it as I can get, anyway – 'for friendship's sake'. _Pft_. As if I could care about friendship. Mokuba was blackmailing me, and Yami stood there the day I asked him in his usual leather attire, and he looked –

Maybe that's why I keep losing against Yami at games. His outfits keep distracting me…

He was very worried about being away for Christmas – a trip to Tokyo… I could see how he longed to go. Domino isn't a very big city, and well…Yami is a curious person. But there was Yugi to consider, and Yami's so frickin' _attached _to the boy and – oh. Is there anything between them…? A flash of jealousy streaked through me. Oh…there better not be.

Still, I dutifully promised he'd been home the morning of Christmas Eve…that gave us yesterday in the capital, today, and tomorrow. An extended weekend, a promise of shopping, sight-seeing in a big city, the assurance of being home with his family at Christmas, and the possibility of being thoroughly _spoiled _at my expense –

He leapt at the chance. He's been as sedate as ever all throughout the trip so far, but his eyes have gleamed so brightly, his lips curved into the tiny smiles I usually never get to see –

Friendship? It isn't friendship I want. I've never desired such a thing. No…there's one thing and one thing alone I want, and that's _Yami. _It's something money can apparently not buy. Yami's companionship, Yami's attention, Yami's body pressed against mine as we tear each other's clothes off and – _ah._ I've been rather distracted this trip.

"…There are bigger cities…" I move over to the glass, waiting carefully for Yami to turn around once more. "You should come see them with me sometime."

"With you?" Yami's looking at me from the side, most of his face hidden by his golden bangs. "But I…I'd love to, but I could never afford to go see them, I'm afraid."

I shrug, keeping my tone neutral, my eyes averted. "You should let me pay then. It's not as if it would affect me; I travel a lot. It could be the Christmas or birthday present Mokuba's always insisting I should buy for you. He usually does the shopping… I never know what to buy." A risked glance, a quick peek –

Yami's smiling at me. "You let your little brother shop for you, Seto?"

_Seto. _The name from him sounds right…sounds perfect. "It keeps him occupied, and it gives him something else to nag me about, aside from the distinct lack of toffee popcorn in the house when he has a craving for it."

Yami's laughing…I'm on a roll apparently. "Jounouchi-kun is the same. He'll happily waltz over to someone else's house and steal all their toffee popcorn, and then complain when there isn't anymore left."

"I expect nothing else from that mutt."

Yami's smile vanishes. _Crud. _"Don't insult Jounouchi-kun, Kaiba. He's a good friend of mine."

Back to _'Kaiba', _is it? Damn….there was a good moment there and I ruined it. Not to self: do not insult bonkotsu in Yami's presence.

"I…I'm going to get something to drink." Yami turns on his heel, walks away. Damn…I really _did _wreck things there…

A gaggle of young females suddenly surround me – _kami, _they've just been _waiting _to ambush me, haven't they? Most of them are giggling, their cheeks pink from alcohol, their eyes flirtatious, poses suggestive. A few of the more demure ones hang on the edge of the crowd, a little wary, a little less drunk, a little more aware as to the giant sign above my head that immediately flares out against their presence proclaiming '_GO AWAY'. _

These are 'daddy's princesses', the daughters of the snobs littered here tonight hoping to snag a fine catch to take home and display to their precious parents, 'it' girls. The groomed-to-crystalline-Barbie-perfection young ladies of high society zooming in on the youngest rich bachelor in the room with the precision of a pack of ravenous wolves...

Yami is glaring at me from across the room. Great. He thinks I want to be here, surrounded by these women? Please Lord…

"Seto…" One dares to lay a hand on me arm, her tone familiar, daringly intimate. She's forward, rude, and I shake her off irritably. In her voice, my name sounds disgusting.

"Get off me." She backs away, a little offended.

I push my way out of the crowd without a 'by-your-leave', ignoring the protests and entreaties quite rudely and not caring, making my way over to those narrowed crimson eyes.

Yami is sipping his drink. When I approach he looks away, carefully nonchalant.

I start immediately. "You should have come over."

"I didn't want to disturb you." Yami's tone is awfully sweet…as saccharine as the flavoured drink he's taking another sip of. Some kind of cocktail. Why so forced? "You looked so…_busy _with all the young ladies."

Was that…? That _was! _Yami's jealous. My elation. Advance three. _"Please," _playing it cool, "you think I want to spend time with them? Most of them are idiots, money-diggers. For every one amongst them with half a brain there'll be a dozen more completely brain-dead." Pause carefully, snatch up a drink from a passing waiter's tray. "…They can go try to dig into someone else's pockets; I'm not interested."

I'm rewarded with a tentative smile. "Are you interested in _any_thing?" Perfect opening.

"Some things. Special things. Things that are unique…" I deliberately let my voice trail away, cradling my own beverage close to me. "I like things that make me sit up and pay attention."

Yami's amused. "…You find them often?"

"Once in a while." My eyes specifically target his. He flushes somewhat I think – it's hard to tell as he's already still a little red – and looks away. I veer off topic a little – I have another nagging desire to settle. "…How are things at the game shop?"

"Hm? Oh…things are quite busy. Christmas is a demanding time there. It was one of the reasons I was reluctant to come to Tokyo with you, but Yugi _insisted -"_

"How is Yugi?" I seize on the topic.

Yami blinks at me. "He's…well? He had a cold a few weeks back but he got over it soon enough…"

"Yami…" I have his full attention now, "you love Yugi, don't you? It's…plain to see..."

"Yes, I love Yugi…"

_Damn… _There go my hopes.

"…as a brother."

Wait, _what?_

"He's like the sibling I never had – or at least, the sibling I never remember having."

_Yes!_

"He's precious to me."

"I'm sure he is. Mokuba is…dear to me." I can afford to indulge this conversation now…the possible threat of Yugi has been eliminated.

"Of course…" Yami sets his now-empty glass down. "But Seto," we're back to _Seto _now? "Why do you ask? You were never all that interested in Yugi before."

I'm not interested in him anymore… A 'little brother' to you I can easily deal with – a 'crush', not so much. I have the feeling you'd be a little upset with me if I drop-kicked your aibou off the top of KaibaCorp tower in Domino…

"Curiosity." The standard answer, back to my general ambiguity.

"You're curious about the oddest of things, Seto…" Yami's pauses a moment to yawn, covering his mouth with one hand. "Not that I mind. 'Curious' Seto is at least sociable."

"And 'non-curious' Seto isn't?"

"I don't know." I'm forced to put my glass down as Yami suddenly moves to wrap his arms around my waist, snuggling his head against my chest in a _friendly _hug. "I don't know him that well."

…I'm going to go insane before this night is out, I swear. Yami's body is lean and fits wonderfully against mine, and I'm going to kill him. We're standing in the middle of a high-class party and he _hugs _me? Kissing, making out, pulling me down to the floor so I can ravish him senseless…_those _I could deal with. My body would be quite happy to fulfil all the hentai little fantasies my mind has been quite insistent on running on primetime in the forefront of my thoughts all night, but _no. _Yami _hugs _me, and now I've got to restrain myself from yanking him even closer to me and taking him where we stand right now. I'm going mad. Slowly. Surely. This is all Yami's fault; I'll kill him -

He sighs, softly, sleepily, warm against me, and I can feel my cheeks tinge with a faint wash of colour.

- Later. I'll enjoy this for now. He better not fall asleep against me though, I dislike being used as a pillow. Though…Yami using me as a pillow doesn't seem so bad as long as he's always this…_soft_…

Dammit, this is Mokuba's fault. When I get back to Domino he's eating nothing but cardboard and raisins for a _year. _


	13. Santa Philosophy Puzzleshipping

**Shadow: **Ack…I'm so behind now with these it just isn't funny. 

**_Shipping: _**_Puzzleshipping – _Yami no Yugi x Yugi Mouto

* * *

**Little Gifts **

**13) Santa Philosophy **

Yami frowned. "Aibou, that has to be the most _ridiculous _thing I've ever heard."

"…That coming from a five thousand-odd year-old spirit of an Egyptian pharaoh sitting on a Kuriboh-patterned beanbag eating all my marshmallows?" Yugi snatched said bowl of treats out of his yami's hands, ignoring the other's protests and hopping up onto the living room sofa, sitting cross-legged. A thoughtful pause. "…Did you eat _all _the pink ones?"

"Of course I didn't eat all the pink ones…" Yami defended his integrity. Yugi held up the noticeably quite _white- _orientated bowl at him. "…Okay, so maybe I did."

"I don't why you can't just eat a mixture." Yugi pouted, poking a marshmallow mournfully. "I like the pink ones too, y'know."

"My apologies…" Yami slid off his beanbag, crossing the floor to wrap his arms around Yugi's waist, laying his head in his hikari's lap when Yugi shifted the bowl. "But I still say your story's ridiculous."

His lighter half looked somewhat miffed. "I was brought up to believe in it, Yami. Many children are."

"But…flying reindeer? A fat man dressed in red capable of fitting down any chimney – _regardless _of whether each particular house has a chimney or not? Aibou…" Yami looked up at his boyfriend, red eyes amused, "think about it logically. How could anyone ever possibly believe…?"

"…Hypocrite." Yugi huffed. "You realise you're beginning to sound like Kaiba?"

"Urgh, no thankyou." Yami wrinkled his nose. "He's too arrogant."

"And you're not?" Yugi smiled at his partner's expression. "Stop dismissing my childhood beliefs. What's wrong with believing in Santa?"

"It's just…" Yami smiled in return, "it's just so _twee. _Like those fairytales you told me. Elves and workshops, toys and snow, all the good boys and girls of the world…_" _

"Yami, you're doing it again."

"Sorry…" Yami tried to divert the topic. "Can I have another marshmallow?"

Flatly: "You ate all the pink ones."

"Oh…yeah…."

Yugi laughed. "Tell you what…shall we melt some chocolate and dip the last of the marshmallows in it?"

Yami's response was to leap to his feet, and drag Yugi immediately to the kitchen.

Breaking some chocolate up into lumps and melting it carefully in a pot over the oven Yugi smiled when Yami came to stand behind him, wrapping arms around his waist and propping his chin on Yugi's shoulder.

"Aibou…" Yami kissed the other's neck softly, "when did you stop believing in Santa?"

"When…I was….eight, I think." Yugi continued to stir the chocolate, making sure to adjust the heat so it wouldn't burn.

"Why did you stop believing?"

"Some children at school…they made fun of me for still believing." Yugi _hmm_ed as Yami laid another kiss just behind his ear. "I stayed up on Christmas Eve, determined I was going to prove them wrong but…my parents…"

"You found out it was they who left you your gifts?"

"Aa…" Yugi sighed, noting the chocolate was ready and switching off the heat. "I was heartbroken."

"I'm…sorry to hear that." Yami let go of his hikari, fetching a bowl to pour the chocolate into. Together, with Yugi, he took the bowl back into the living-room, settling down on the sofa with Yugi curled up against his side. "Aibou…" He started, hesitating.

"What?" Yugi dipped a white marshmallow into the melted chocolate, finishing the treat before looking up.

"You…you know I wasn't making fun of your beliefs exactly…right?"

Yugi smiled. "It's alright, mon hitorou no boku." He dipped another marshmallow in the chocolate, holding this up for his darker half to eat. "I'm long over Santa; now…now it's just a fond memory of when I was little. Most children go through something like it; it's part of growing up."

"Hmm..." Yami bent his head slightly to take the proffered sweet. "As long as you're alright."

Yugi snuggled a little closer into his side. "…Never better."

"Truly?"

"Yes, truly." Conviction. "Though…there is one thing."

"What?" Yami looked vaguely alarmed at the very thought something was wrong. "Aibou, what is it?"

"…Just…" Yugi's smile was teasing, his hand brushing one of Yami's dangling bangs off his face, "I wish you hadn't finished all the pink marshmallows. I liked those."


	14. Winter Break Wishshipping

**Shadow: **So I'm…a whole week behind with these now? _Accckkkkk… _(type-type-type) 

**_Shipping: _**_Wishshipping – _Yugi Mouto x Joey Wheeler

* * *

**Little Gifts **

**14) Winter Break **

_Five… _

_Four… _

_Three… _

_Two… _

One.

_"Freedoooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!" _Joey Wheeler burst out through the doors of Domino High School at the head of an army of students, the first among many, tearing out into the grounds and promptly running around in a mad frenzy of utter celebratory joy. 

Yugi Mouto, somewhat amused, followed behind at a much more sedate pace, Téa and Ryou at his side.

Winter Break. The winter holidays. The period of two-three weeks in which to not do all the homework assigned, and simply let loose and _party. _The cold days full of so much more light than the long summer even seemed to hold, the half-smiles exchanged between wry friends, the Christmas trees and stars nearly poking everyone's eyes out, and yet no-one ever seeming to mind…

"Joey seems to be happy." Ryou's observation was dry, his smile faintly amused as he watched his American friend race around the schoolyard in insane glee. The term had been a long one, and they were all glad to be let loose for the holidays.

"Joey could amuse himself in an empty room…" Téa sighed, watching as the named blonde finally ended up running into someone, both people going down in a tangle of limbs and colour.

_"Joey!" _Yugi took off from between them, racing to see if his friend was hurt.

Ryou smiled a little more, tilting his head to one side, gaze knowing. "…Don't you think he'd find things so much more amusing if Yugi-kun were there?"

"Things are always more fun when there's someo- _oh." _Téa laughed a little subconsciously, catching herself when she caught what her companion was hinting at. "Ah…yes, I guess he would. Not that he'd ever _say _so or anything…Yugi either." The girl's tone was a little wistful, remembering. Yugi was beside Joey, helping the blond up and brushing the other down. The other boy he'd collided into was Tristan – the brunet was heaving himself up and smacking Joey over the back of the head; Joey was complaining loudly.

Ryou averted his eyes from the bickering, attention on his friend beside him. "…You miss being his first crush, don't you? Even though you never…?"

"Yugi's always been my friend. I was his _first _friend, his first crush…" Téa sighed, wrapping her arms around herself as if to ward off the cold. "It made me feel a little special, y'know? Wanted. I never liked Yugi in that way, but…all the same…"

"I think I understand."

A long pause. Tristan finally got fed up abusing Joey and, spotting Téa and Ryou, began heading their way. Joey and Yugi still stayed in the middle of the yard, talking about something or other, Joey rubbing his battered head and occasionally sending a glare after Tristan's retreating back. Yugi stood close to him…they were both smiling.

Téa sighed again, still watching the two. "Boys are oblivious."

"…Excuse me?" Ryou uttered a token protest.

Blue eyes glanced his way shortly. "Ryou Bakura, when the situation calls for it, you can be as thick as two short planks. You're male – your species damns you."

"My _'species'?" _

"Yes." No elaboration from Téa. "…Do you think if we painted a giant placard professing their feelings towards one another they'd cotton on about each other and finally get a clue?"

Another pause, Ryou looking over to Yugi and Joey, the two's smiles, the faint laughter that drifted over, the sounds of the conversation. Joey's arm around Yugi's shoulder, their bodies conspiratorially close… "I…I think they'll get their eventually Téa, by themselves."

Tristan finally reached them, grinning with absolutely no idea of the conversation topic. Behind him Joey leaned do, pressed an affectionate, little-more-than-friendly-but-not-_too-_much kiss to Yugi's forehead. The smaller teen blushed, mumbling something quickly. Joey smiled.

Téa sighed for the final time and let Ryou pat her consolingly on the shoulder. "…They always do."


	15. Chocolate Calendar Yamishipping

**Shadow: **I'm slowly trying to catch up… 

**_Shipping: _**_Yamishipping – _Yami no Yugi x Yami no Bakura x Yami no Marik

* * *

**Little Gifts **

**15) Chocolate Calendar **

There was quiet for once, in a usually quite noisy household. Only ten minutes before there had certainly been enough yelling, sounds from upstairs sliding through the floorboards to the living-room, where one Yami Bakura had lain himself on the couch, feet propped up, trying to read. The book was mildly interesting, but Bakura couldn't ever quite get into it because he just…kept…getting…_distracted… _

One hand still touched his neck, the limb lightly pressing against a mark there a few days old, thoughts wandering away from the text placed in front of brown eyes and up the stairs of his shared home, to the bedroom where no doubt the smaller of his two lovers had recently received – another - mark just like it.

The sounds of the shower switching on…footsteps coming down the stairs. Bakura returned his attention to his book.

Malik entered the room, hair tousled, long-sleeved shirt only half-buttoned and hanging off one shoulder. His smile was satisfied, his stretch to touch the door's lintel even more so. "What're you reading?" He nodded a head to Bakura.

Brown eyes swept across Malik's appearance, Bakura's lip curling, his expression little more than a sneer over the edge of his book. "You could have at _least _had a shower." He didn't answer the question set him.

A shrug, Malik crossing the room effortlessly, and sitting on the albino's stomach. "Yami was using it."

"And you couldn't have joined him?" Bakura smacked the blond teen with his novel until the other got off. "You've done it before frequently enough."

"Maybe I felt like coming to see you." Malik crouched beside the other on the ground, refusing to budge until Bakura tilted his head to look at him. When the other did so, Malik leaned in and caught a brief kiss.

Bakura raised an eyebrow. "I'm touched." His tone was dry. "However, I'm also _reading." _Another smack – only a _little _gentler – to Malik's shoulders. "Go bother Yami; judging by some of the sounds drifting down here from above he's more than willing to play with you right now." Distantly, there was the sound of the shower being switched off. "Better yet, take a shower. You smell of sex."

"Jealous?" The book made contact with Malik's head. _"Ow! _Fine, fine…but I'll get the shower later. In all due honesty -"

_"You? Honest?" _

_"In all due honesty," _a glare from violet eyes, "I can't be bothered right now."

"_Aaaw…" _Bakura was all fake sincerity, "was Yami too much for the precious darling?"

Malik scowled. "…If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were PMSing."

"Yes, well, you're a moron." Bakura deliberately went back to his book, turning a page. "One must make exceptions in cases such as yours."

Malik growled, reaching forward with one hand to snatch away the novel but –

Feet ran down the stairs swiftly, Yami suddenly bursting into the room dressed hastily in a red jumper and loose pants, his wet hair, still dripping from the shower, hanging around his face. His eyes flashed annoyance. "Who ate all my chocolate?"

"…Huh?" Bakura stared at the diminutive pharaoh, uncomprehending. "What chocolate?"

"My chocolate calendar. It's gone." Hands on hips. "And in this house, food being 'gone' means _'eaten'. _Which of you ate it?"

"I've never seen the bloody thing before in my life – how could I have eaten it?" Bakura frowned, sitting up a little straighter on the couch, swinging his feet around to place them on the floor. "Since when did you have a chocolate calendar?"

"Since mid-November." Yami stalked across the room, still clearly unhappy. "I kept it in my bedroom, and now it's gone."

"Don't look at _me." _Malik gracefully rose from his crouch, standing upright. "I'm not so fond of chocolate. Bakura must've eaten it."

"I did no such thing." The named thief was indignant. "Malik has to have eaten it."

A frown from the blonde. _"I _didn't."

"Well _one _of you ate it!! It was there yesterday, and I _know _I left it on my dresser." Yami scowled.

"Yami…" Bakura marked his page, putting his book down, "we can easily buy you another stupid calendar. Or steal one. Whatever works."

"I don't_ want _'another stupid calendar'. I want to wring the neck of who ate the one I _already _had. Aibou bought it for me!! I was only up to fourteen and –" swiftly growing bored with the tirade Malik moved to take hold of Yami's waist, leaning forwards to press his mouth forcefully against his lover's.

Pulling back after a long while, Malik looked at him seriously. "Yami."

Yami looked at him, breathless, speechless, _stunned. _"…Hm?"

"Shut up."

A pause, Yami almost agreeing with the command for a moment before –

"_I want to know who ate my calendar!" _The former pharaoh jerked himself out of Malik's hold.

"We know; we _heard."_ Bakura hooked his fingers under the hem of Yami's jumper, pulling the other towards him off-balance and onto his lap. Pushing aside the slim teen's wet hair he laid his head on one of Yami's shoulders, remarking: "So did the rest of the neighbourhood."

Still somewhat sulky Yami wound his fingers through his lover's hair, gripping hold of some of the silvery-white locks and giving them a sharp yank to encourage Bakura to raise his head. The once tomb-robber did so with a low hiss, Yami stealing the other's lips with casual disregard, too irritated still to bother trying to be gentle.

Malik, smirking at the soft noise of surprise Bakura had issued, sat down beside the two on the sofa, enjoying the show. When Bakura and Yami finally finished the latter slid across to return the favour bestowed upon him before with all the arrogance befitting a king. Malik, pleased at the thought Yami might've finally abandoned his stupid hunt for the calendar-eater was more than happy to let his smallest of lovers indulge himself in such a manner. There were reasons the blond didn't want the once-pharaoh examining the situation too closely, and most of them ended with the consequence of Malik having to face down not one, but two pissed off lovers – one for lying to him, the other for trying to incriminate him in the crime.

"Mm…" Yami smiled at Malik, leaning against the other's chest and threading his fingers through sandy-coloured hair. "Malik…" His tone was sweet – _too _sweet.

Malik looked at him a little suspiciously. _"Yes, _Yami?"

"You said you didn't like chocolate." A light kiss to his cheek, slim fingers wrapping tightly around his wrist, not allowing him to run away. Bakura turned, brown eyes suddenly narrowing, catching a vague clue thrown as to where the conversation was leading…

Malik felt like bolting. But…Yami was lying nigh completely on his lap, trapping his legs, and Bakura was more than fast enough to rise and block his route to the exit should he try to –

"I did say, that yes." Malik tried to sound neutral.

"Then…" a dazzling smile, and crimson eyes had adopted their deadly, flashing look once more, "why do you taste of it?"

Bakura glared, Yami smiled thinly, and Malik…

Malik saw himself spending the Christmas season on the couch.


	16. Evening Service Tendershipping

**Shadow: **Quite short this time. And…_ack. _The sap. (cowers) 

**_Shipping: _**_Tendershipping – _Yami no Bakura x Ryou Bakura

* * *

**Little Gifts **

**16) Evening Service **

Bakura was irritable. His shirt annoyed him, his hair – neatly plaited to keep it out of the way of all the candles – felt just plain _wrong _styled the way it was, and his tie was too tight around his neck. Why did mortals _insist_ on wearing these nooses? His blazer was stiff and uncomfortable, the incense was choking him, and if that old bat behind him didn't stop cooing on how 'sweet' he and Ryou looked standing together in that cramped little church pew together _in the next three seconds _he was going to turn around and beat her to death with a hymn book, the crowds' response around him be damned.

He was in church, with Ryou, celebrating Midnight mass. Being in church was bad enough for Bakura, but…_mass? _At _Christmas? _Bakura had put up an almighty fuss when Ryou had asked him to come, kicking, huffing, yelling…but Ryou had looked so bloody _pathetic, _and _then _the hikari's eyes had done that…that…shiny thing, and mentioned his family, and how'd they'd used to celebrate mass on Christmas Eve, and how Amane and his mother weren't there anymore and – and –

And Bakura had caved, albeit sulkily, and consented to dressing up and attending mass. The white shirt, the tie, the plaited hair and the tie...all that had been forced on him an hour previously when there wasn't enough time for him to complain and still fulfil his promise of getting to mass on-time, and so Bakura had started out the evening full of ill-will and oh_…damn _Ryou. This was all his hikari's fault.

The people stuffed around them thought they were brothers, cousins. Ryou had only smiled politely and agreed with whatever they had thought Bakura had kept his mouth shut and glared until the people had had the sense to quickly depart.

Counting down the minutes till Midnight… Bakura didn't know half the hymns shoved in front of his nose by Ryou, quite pleased when his hikari leant closer still to explain them to him, warm against his side in the cold, cold church. Outside everything was dark, and the world was waiting, waiting. Ryou was beside him, smiling and happy, and though Bakura was bored witless he hesitantly smiled back briefly, if only to say doe brown eyes brighten even more in the candlelight, Ryou looking radiant.

Going outside later, at the start of the new day, Ryou's hand was in Bakura's. As soon as they'd left the church Bakura used his free hand to undo his plait, snow-white hair spilling down his back in its usual tangled array. The rest of the world was sleeping, at peace, and it was with a strange feeling of contentment Bakura walked down the empty streets with his hikari, passing all the dark houses that in but a few hours would be alive with the joys and woes of Christmas morning.

Ryou stopped, tugging at his arm. "…Bakura?"

The yami paused. "Hm?" He glanced back at his other.

Ryou approached again, tucking himself against Bakura's side in a loose, uncharacteristic hug. "Thankyou."

Bakura looked down at him, one eyebrow raised. Seeing Ryou smile once more: "No problem."

They went home to sleep.


	17. Hibernation Clashshipping

**Shadow: **…Anyone else notice how these are sloooowwwlllly getting shorter? O.o Ah…well… (guilt) Slight bit of language in this one. 

**_Shipping: _**_Clashshipping – _Yami no Marik x Yami no Yugi

* * *

**Little Gifts **

**17) Hibernation **

"Malik." Yami tapped at the door of his lover's bedroom, sighing when there was no response. _"Malik." _He knocked a little harder.

A muffled voice from within: "Go _away, _Yami; I'm sleeping."

"Malik…" Yami gave up knocking, opening the door and breezing into the room, "it's two in the _afternoon. _You can't still be tired." He eyed the lump in the bed contemplatively. "Come on, get up."

"I'm not tired; I'm sleeping." Malik's voice was still muffled, coming from underneath pillows and thick duvet. "You don't need to be tired to sleep."

Yami rolled his eyes, crossing over to sit at the bed's foot. "You don't need to sleep if you're not tired." He poked the Malik-lump.

"I'm hibernating."

Yami laughed, pulling back the bed-sheets so he could slide in the bed alongside Malik, clothed body flush against his lover's near-naked one. "Humans don't hibernate." His tone was serious, but his eyes were dancing.

"That's what _you _think." Malik kissed him, burying one hand in red-black spiky hair, the other lying possessively on the curve of Yami's hip. Yami's lips parted beneath his; letting him take control, hold the former pharaoh's mouth hostage so all Yami could do was moan… Drawing back, eyes glittering. "Why are you dressed again?"

Yami laughed a little breathlessly, leaning upwards a little so tanned hands could slide under his shirt, pull it off, toss it somewhere on the bedroom floor. "I most certainly don't remember. Help me correct my mistake?"

Malik smirked, more than eager to help the other, limbs tangling together, deliciously warm beneath the sheets. Yami pressed against him, kept there by his own hands, arms around his neck, breath hot against his throat. Malik tilted his head, letting lips caress the shell of the once king's ear. "…I'm meant to be hibernating, you realise. You're being highly distracting."

A chuckle, vibrations travelling through both their bodies at the sound. "Humans don't hibernate."

Yami was ill-informed. Anyone and anything could hibernate, go to sleep for a little while and wake up rested, refreshed, passing through the winter of the times to wait for better chances in spring. Winter was all about the preparation, the waiting…

Malik was asleep. His self, his true self, was sleeping, curled away from human sight to avoid hurt, to slowly grow, to gain strength while the chill winds whipped the outside. His true self was hiding away, carefully concealed behind a neutral mask while the mask bedded Yami, fucked him, heard him _scream… _Pleasured shouts, moans…Yami was kept out of his mind was lust, with ill-guided love and affections, with heated kisses and hot touches. Such a pretty, poor, _deluded_ boy… He was lovely, and he was powerful, but he was a fool. A _doomed _fool, for his fate now was inevitable…

One day, the hibernation would end. Winter would be over and his true self would wake… And…and this pretty, pretty pharaoh, nestled so trustingly against the drowsing viper's side, would feel his bite, and final, venomous kiss.

Yami gasped, moaning as Malik made love to him, unusually gentle for a change. When violet eyes looked at him there was heat in his gaze, burning fire to melt the frost lingering on the windowpane, the ice clinging to the winter world outside.

Afterwards…afterwards they lay together, warm, sated, limbs heavy, eyes flickering on the edges of sleep. Yami let out a quiet mumble of protest, pushing at Malik's arm that still curled around him. "You were meant to be waking up…"

Malik smiled. "Patience…" He dropped his head, laying a leisurely kiss to the other's throat, feeling Yami's heartbeat from the jugular under his lips. Such a fast beating… The beating of the drums, the ticking of the clock. Time's march on. "I'll wake up soon enough."


	18. Hot Chocolate Dragonshipping

**Shadow: **This one's _odd. _

**_Shipping: _**_Dragonshipping – _Yami no Yugi x Joey Wheeler

* * *

**Little Gifts **

**18) Hot Chocolate **

There were many reasons for visiting your friend's house Joey Wheeler mused as he walked along the streets of Domino city, but spying on your crush was not meant to be one of them. He meant…well, it was great to see Yugi an' all, but there was just that little extra _thrill_ that came from his crush saying his name, charging him with something to do, or even…like that one, _wonderful _time, stumbling and being caught in your arms, usually composed features taking on the slightest tinge of pink in embarrassment.

Yami looked amazing when he blushed. This Joey Wheeler knew for a fact, treasured, coveted, was actually quite smug about because he'd _seen _the pharaoh do it unlike the majority of others. It was rare to get any show of emotion out of Yami except anger – nothing riled the Puzzle spirit like someone who hurt Yugi, who hurt his friends but –

Joey didn't want to see anger. Joey wanted to see Yami smile, wanted to know if Yami _could _smile. Yugi had said Yami had smiled at _him _once or twice but…a smile from Yami would be worth more than all the diamonds of the world. To Joey, at least. The only present he wanted that Christmas… Ah, he could only imagine his friends' faces if he told them _that… _

_I want Yami to smile at me, and me alone. _Joey sighed as the Kame Game Shop came into view, Yugi's grandfather in his usual position outside sweeping up dead leaves. "Good afternoon, Mouto jii-chan." The blond spared a smile for the man, friendly.

"Good afternoon, young man!!" Mr. Mouto always liked a bit of respect, and Joey was likeable enough. He certainly hung around the Game Shop enough, one of Yugi and Yami's closest friends. "You'll be wanting my grandsons?" A nod. "Well, I think they're through in the kitchen. Yugi wanted some hot chocolate, and Yami just went with it, I think."

_I want Yami to smile _for _me… _Joey slipped inside the Mouto house easily enough, taking off his jacket and hanging it up on a hook in the hallway. Padding along the corridor he heard voices from the kitchen:

"I don't _care _if it's easier; I want _real _hot chocolate, not the powdered stuff." Yugi.

"But _aibou – _the 'real' stuff's too milky!" Yami's voice, raised in protest.

"Says he who pours half the milk supply in his mug with the powder anyway."

"But...it's too chocolatey without it!"

"It's hot _chocolate." _Deadpan. "It's _meant _to be chocolatey."

"Hey," Joey stood in the kitchen doorway, smiling in greeting, "it sounds like I've been missing a great debate in here."

"Joey!" Yugi smiled at him, and then brandished a mug. "Do you want some hot chocolate? Yami and I were just about to make some."

"If we can agree on what type to make…" Yami nodded a head at him, perched up on the counter dividing the kitchen, leaning back to look at his hikari. This gave Joey a wonderful view to ogle… Damn, all the pharaoh was wearing was some black jeans and jumper, how did he manage to make it look so-?

"Um…" Reluctantly, Joey tore brown eyes away from Yami, and on to a hopeful-looking Yugi. "I'd love some regardless. It's cold outside."

"Then we should have powdered." Gracefully Yami slipped off the counter, stealing the mug from Yugi's hands. "It takes too long to make 'real' chocolate, and Joey will want heating up quickly."

"Yami…"

"We could have some 'real' chocolate later?" An offered compromise.

"Fine…" Sighing, Yugi went to fill the kettle. Sticking it under the tap he called: "That okay with you, Joey?"

"It's great." The American leaned on the counter-divide, watching Yami fill three mugs with powder and milk. The other was as composed as ever, as calm, as perfectly impassive… Did Yami _never _take off his mask? "Hey Yami…"

"Hm?" Crimson eyes, black-rimmed and beautiful, looked his way.

"Is something wrong?" Joey tried to keep his tone light. "Only…you don't look too happy, bud."

Slight consternation wrinkled Yami's smooth brow, one hand being raised to tuck loose golden bangs behind his ears. "I'm perfectly fine, Joey." Yugi set the kettle to boil. "In fact, I'm better than I've been in a while. No megalomaniacs are currently trying to take over the world."

Joey grinned, catching the other's dry tone. "Just as long as you're happy."

Yami nodded to him again, taking the mugs over to the kettle. "I am, I assure you."

Yugi smiled rather wryly, leaning against the kitchen wall. "Don't worry, Joey. Mon hitorou no boku kinda has a way of letting you know when he's a bit off."

"Oh?"

"Yeah…he ends up yelling at Kaiba, and trying to blow Bakura up." Yugi laughed when Yami rolled his eyes. "Do you know I bought him a stress ball once?"

Joey was interested. "What happened to it?"

"He chucked it at Bakura's head." More laughter, the kettle finishing boiling.

Yami shrugged effortlessly, pouring the hot water out into the mugs. "…Well, it helped me relieve my stress, did it not?"

"I think Ryou would have preferred it if you hadn't nearly taken Bakura's head off in the process though, Yami…" Yugi smiled as he accepted the hot chocolate his other half handed to him. "I'm going through to the living room."

"We'll be right with you." Yami poured out the other two cups as Yugi left the room, picking up one and passing it across the counter to Joey.

"Hey, Yami…" Joey was still leaning on the counter, standing a little more upright; he caught one of the pharaoh's wrists before he could turn away.

"Yes, Joey?" Yami was still calm. But…then why would he be flustered? It wasn't as if…

Surprising even himself, Joey leaned further over the counter and kissed Yami lightly - fleetingly - on the lips. His attempt was a bit clumsy, nearly missing altogether, but it got the point across.

Startled, Yami looked at him for a few moments. "…Joey?" The faintest – the _very _faintest – wash of rose just touched his cheekbones. Pretty in pink.

"I like you, Yami. A lot." Rather a clumsy way of explaining things too. Nothing like Yami's eloquence, Yami's wit and way with words. Rather simplistic. Joey flushed, feeling like an idiot.

"That's…" Yami searched for words for a moment, "that's…" He looked down at the hot chocolate between them, his cheeks gaining more colour as the seconds passed. "I never guessed."

"I figured." Joey still felt like a prat. "I'll just…" He released the other. "Just…forget it, alright?" he turned to go.

"No." This time, Yami snatched at him. "Wait." Joey turned to face him, beyond amazed when soft lips collided with his in another unplanned, awkward kiss, chaste and sweet. Yami was all out blushing when he drew back, curved quite uncomfortably over the kitchen counter. Straightening he walked around the barrier, stopping in front of Joey. "I think…maybe…" he hesitated, and then offered a small, shy smile to the blonde; "maybe I could like you too. I just..."

Joey smiled, giddy, his world spinning in delight, and suddenly he had crouched down, sweeping Yami up by the waist and spinning the other around the kitchen. Coming to an end, breathless, he set Yami on the counter, leaning forward for another, hopefully less fumbling kiss –

"…I leave you guys alone for _five minutes…" _Yugi's voice from the doorway, and Joey sprang back from his would-be kiss in an instant, Yami flushing just that little bit more. Yugi just looked amused. "Don't mind me, _I _don't mind." He crossed the room, sticking his empty mug in the sink. Slowly, stealthily, Joey snuck back over to wrap his arms around Yami, a little unsure of himself. The pharaoh let him. "Only…" Joey sprang back again, not wanting to upset Yugi. The hikari laughed at him, pointing to the abandoned mug on the counter near Yami. "Are you going to drink your hot chocolate?"

"I…I don't think so…"

"Good." Yugi stole the mug, trotting out of the kitchen once more with it. "Have fun!"

Nonplussed, the two new 'lovebirds' in the kitchen stared after him.


	19. Holiday Movie Heartshipping

**Shadow: **So...long time no see? I refused to upload any of these until December, and of course, not finishing these _last _year... (flaps hands) There's only five more left to go, anyway.

_**Shipping: **__Heartshipping – _Yugi Mouto x Ryou Bakura

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**19) Holiday Movie**

"That's illegal."

"Ryou, it's _Santa's workshop."_

"I don't care if it's Buckingham Palace – that's slave labour! Look at all those poor elves!"

Yugi Mouto buried his head in his hands. He was seated on the couch in Ryou's apartment, his white-haired boyfriend sitting beside him protesting about the human rights of the Christmas elves in some Christmas film or other – neither of them had actually bothered to check the title – playing on TV. "Ryou, I think you're missing the point here. It's not _real." _Yugi looked up earnestly. "There isn't actually a workshop of busy little elves up in the North Pole making toys all year round."

"I don't care whether it's 'real' or not." Ryou crossed his arms with a sniff. "Showing this sort of 'entertainment' on TV is promoting slave labour." He pointed indignantly at the screen, where a particularly chirpy elf had suddenly burst out into song. "They seriously cannot expect us to believe slaves are _happy?"_

"…Ryou-koi, it's just an elf…"

"That's the sort of callous stance that promotes these things in the _first _place, Yugi." Ryou sounded disapproving. "To us he may just be an elf -"

"But to others he's just an actor in a costume?"

"_Yugi!" _Disapproving had turned into scandalised. Ryou was most put-out.

"Ryou," his boyfriend insisted, realising he would have to take a stance in this one-sided argument if he hoped to get any peace at all that day, "you cannot feasibly compare a short actor with CGI-pointy ears to a slave – for a _start, _the actor's getting paid."

"But he's meant to _represent -"_

"He _represents _happiness, light, magic and candy canes to children, for he is a Christmas elf." Yugi cut the other off. "And unless you're now dubbing Santa Claus a tyrant and slave-keeper…"

Ryou stared at his boyfriend. "Yugi -"

"Santa Claus is about magic, Ryou! _Magic!!" _Yugi waved his arms for dramatic effect. "He's there to be jolly and sparkly and represent materialism, capitalism and advertising at its best! Santa is the spirit of Christmas, of giving and receiving and how many singing people do you know that are unhappy?! The elves are happy, Ryou! Happy! Hear their chirpy song!"

There was a silence in the room, save for a lone elf on-screen warbling some mournful little dirge to a sympathetic-looking reindeer.

"Yugi…" Ryou gently took the other's arm closest to him, lowering it from its emphatic flailing at the sky so he could meet Yugi's purple eyes with his own serious brown, "you over-analyse things too much."


	20. Friendly Gathering Thiefshipping

**Shadow: **Short one this time.

_**Shipping: **__Thiefshipping – _Yami no Bakura x Malik Ishtar

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**20) Friendly Gathering**

"I told you before – _no _pyrotechnics!"

"Not even a little bit?"

"_No!" _Ryou put his foot down most emphatically on the issue, firm in the face of his other half's sulk. "We don't want to burn the house down!"

Bakura looked up at that, expression clearly conveying his thoughts on the matter. _'Yes we do.'_

"No!"

Bakura folded his arms across his chest and continued to sulk, scowling as his leaned back against the wall behind him and followed the others pottering around the room in their preparations with his eyes. "Omote, you're no fun at all."

"Arson isn't supposed to be 'fun'!"

"Then _clearly, _omote, you've never tried it -"

"Of course I haven't tried it!" Ryou's cheeks were pink, hair in disarray due to his exasperation. "Do I _look _like I'm banged up in jail?"

Bakura gave up on the issue, and slouched off, avoiding the tinsel strewn across the floor where an overly-enthusiastic Yugi had dropped it. They were going to have a large group party later and most of the 'gang' had come over to help decorate, the place looking hideously cutesy with smiling santas, flashing reindeers, and a particularly annoying sparkly snowman that burst into 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' anytime anyone came within a metre radius. All Bakura had wanted to do was spice things up a bit, create some – artificial – havoc, add a new flavour to the celebrations -

"Hel-_lo…" _a certain familiar form accosted the thief as he was midway up the stairs of the house, sneaking up on the albino from behind (though Bakura had known he was there, of course he had, uh-huh…) and wrapping tanned arms around the youth's waist. "Running away?"

"Says the boy who's spent the last year or so in Egypt hiding from Pharaoh?" Bakura smacked a hand down on one of the arms holding him, the limbs retracting immediately at the sting. The spirit turned around then, looking at a pouting Malik.

"…That's different."

"Of course it is." Blatant disbelief.

Malik changed the subject. "Where are you going?"

A raised eyebrow, thin, and vaguely amused. "What business of it is yours?"

"Plenty, if my sort-of-boyfriend goes AWOL and I'm left with a furious Ryou to contend with." Malik took another step up the stairs, moving so he was only one level below the other and informing him quite seriously: "Your darling other half can be an exceedingly scary person when he gets riled up." He leaned forward and up, ignoring Bakura's indifference, placing a chaste kiss on the other's mouth. "If you're going to do a runner from the party, inform me so I can come too?"

Bakura gave a vague smile at that. "What if I don't want you to tag along?"

"Then tell me anyway so I know to run in the opposite direction away from here."

"You sound eager to get away."

"Just eager to be preoccupied by something other than Anzu," Malik made a face, unaware (or perhaps just seeming so) or Bakura's bristling at the statement; "I swear if that woman makes me bake one more 'little extra' I'm going to take all five trays of them we've made and ram them down her throat, ball-bearings and all."

"…Just slip laxatives into the food?"

"Already did that." Malik's grin is wolfish, the blond leaning dangerously close to his lover once more. "Don't eat any of the mince pies."

"Now if I were a deeply moralistic person -" Malik snorted, and Bakura gave a mock-reproving glare, " – I said _if. _If I were a moralistic person, I'd go down there and inform all our dear, sweet, _lovely _friends assembled," another snort, this time Bakura unable to hold back his responsive grin, canines all a-glitter, "of your sinful, woeful transgressions."

"And since you're _not _a moralistic person…?" Malik begged the question, still leaning, Bakura sliding hands to the Egyptian youth's waist, fingers trailing up the blond's sides.

"…They're going to wish they let me burn the party down." Bakura smirked slightly at the other's confusion, hands falling to Malik's hips once more and yanking the other sharply forwards and up. "Let's leave the prats organising the party for now."

"And do what?" Malik asked, trailing after the thief up the stairs.

Another feral smile shot back over Bakura's shoulder, so common to the couple, had Malik's steps increasing their pace just that _little _bit more. (He all but ran up the last few steps.)

…Jounouchi, poor greedy Jounouchi, who scoffed the whole tray of mince pies and an armful of cupcakes, spent the rest of the holiday season either on, or dashing to, the toilet.


	21. PuddingMaking Hikarishipping

**Shadow:** Based upon my father's approach to Christmas cake – "let's chuck it all in!"

_**Shipping:**_ _Hikarishipping_ – Yugi Mouto x Malik Ishtar x Ryou Bakura

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**21) Pudding-Making**

The clack of cutlery and china was loud in the little kitchen, evident even over the cheerful babbling of the radio and the atrocious humming that accompanied it.

"Ma-_lik_…" Ryou's voice shortly after there has been a gurgling splash, more scraping as a bottle was finished being upended into olive-coloured goop, "that's way too much sherry."

"Nah…" Malik's response, the blond's smile bright and sunny and completely ignorant of both the freezing cold weather outside and the disapproving look on his boyfriend's face within. "There can never be too much alcohol."

Ryou wafted a hand in front of his nose. "But the kitchen _reeks."_

Yugi, sitting on the sideboard going through a pile of kitchenware in an effort to find a suitably-sized container to put their cake-mix into, gave a vague nod. "Most of the alcohol will be burnt out during the baking though, Ryou, and only leave the flavour behind."

Ryou sighed. "But we still don't want it too strong!"

"Wait…" Malik ignored the albino's exclamation, focusing in on Yugi, "the alcohol gets burned out?" The Egyptian looked most disappointed by this news. Yugi nodded. "Well, _damn."_ Somewhat sulkily he grabbed the mix insofar, dumping it in the smaller youth's hands. "You do it then."

"Do what?" Yugi looked at the other in some confusion, wrinkling his nose at the strong smell coming from the bowl. He slid down from the sideboard, feet placed firmly on the tiled floor.

"Mix!" A flapping motion from the blond. Yugi hesitantly looked to Ryou, who gave him a small nod of confirmation. Yugi mixed – Malik watched him for a few minutes, and then wandered out of the kitchen.

He came in again later, when both his boyfriends were occupied, Yugi the one humming along to the radio this time, eyes closed as he stirred some sultanas into the cake-mix. Malik grinned when he saw it, sneaking up behind the duelist and draping himself about Yugi's shoulders.

"Make a wish," his murmur was low, but it still took the other by surprise.

Yugi jumped, heart thumping in his chest and spoon clattering in the bowl. "I…what?"

"It's traditional," Malik insisted, chin perched comfortably on the other's shoulder.

"And how would _you_ know?" Ryou asked, amused, looking up as he hunted down some more dried fruits from one of the numerous cupboards in his kitchen. "This is the first year you'll ever be celebrating Christmas."

The blond pulled a face at him. "I've watched videos."

"Oh, wow." The fond sarcasm in Ryou's voice was lost on neither of his companions. "But go on," the Brit looked back at Yugi, "make a wish. Malik's right – it is a tradition."

Yugi closed his eyes for a few moments, thinking…and then smiled, nodding to himself and opening his lashes once more. "Done."

Malik leaned over a bit, curious. "What was it?"

"It's a secret!" Ryou hit the Egyptian before Yugi could respond. "Don't give away your wish, Yugi, or it won't come true."

The other gave him a gentle smile, bowl still clutched to his chest. His expression was soft. "Who says it hasn't come true already?"

"Then that was a bloody quick wi– _ow!"_ Malik rubbed is head when Ryou smacked him again. "That one hurt!"

"Then have some sensitivity," he was told rather self-righteously.

Yugi only laughed, and pressed a quick, consoling kiss on the blond's cheek. Malik smiled at him, somewhat mollified, opening his mouth to no doubt pass some perverse comment –

_"Ow!"_ A rub at the Egyptian's arm, Malik all-out pouting at the sting there from Ryou's wooden spoon. "What was _that_ for? I never did anything!"

"You were about to," Ryou assured him, before reaching in to take the bowl from Yugi, ruffling the smaller boy's hair as he went past.

They were actually planning on getting the thing _baked_ that day, after all.


	22. PresentWrapping Peachshipping

**Shadow:** Because this pairing is cute. Prepare for fluff. X3

_**Shipping:** Peachshipping_ – Yugi Mouto x Anzu Mazaki

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**22) Present-Wrapping**

Mouto Yugi could not wrap presents. It was quite official – his friends had often called him out on it, teasing gently when the youth passed over a brightly-wrapped jumble of paper and tape as a gift. It invariably looked absolutely _terrible,_ but because everyone knew Yugi had put so much effort into it (and positively drowned the thing in stickers and ribbons and bows) everyone loved his style regardless. And…it was the thought that counted, anyway. (A gift was a gift, however badly it was wrapped, and Yugi never ever forgot a special date.)

And so, three days before Christmas, Yugi had pulled out the supply of presents he'd bought in for friends and family (save for the special gift he'd bought for Anzu), and attempted to make some progress in getting them all wrapped and labelled ready for the big day ahead.

And then, about ten minutes later, Anzu came into the home they shared, and promptly stared at the mess her boyfriend was making in the middle of the floor. "…Yugi?" She dropped the bag she was carrying by the front entrance, taking another few steps into the living-room that had been declared as the other's place of work. "Yugi, are you quite alright?"

Yugi, oh-covered-in-tape-with-his-legs-tangled-up-by-ribbons-and-labels-all-over-his-clothes-Yugi, looked up at her, rather sheepish, but staunchly decided to be a man. "I'm fine."

Anzu wasn't quite convinced. "Are you _sure?"_

Manliness flew out of the window, into the frosty December outside to skid on the ice. "Anzu – _help?"_ Yugi started tugging at some of the cello-tape that had got stuck in his hair. "I fully appreciate this stuff has to have some bondage skills to keep other stuff properly wrapped - but does it have to be so _sticky?!"_

Anzu laughed, going to kneel on the floor in the midst of the chaos so she could aid her struggling boyfriend. "Don't yank at it so – you'll pull all of your hair out." Gently, she started easing some of the tape free from Yugi's spikes, the other twitching and wincing when she involuntarily pulled out a few strands, quite by accident. "Easy -"

"Get it off of meee!" The plea had been part _wail._

Anzu managed to halt the laugh that threatened to escape her, but was forced to lean in closer to the other, out of Yugi's sight behind him, to hide her smile. "I'm almost finished -"

"_Please_, Anzu -"

_"Look_," the brunette leaned back, the last of the tape rolled up into a useless, gummy ball in her palm, "there. See? It's all out. Mazaki Anzu saves the day once more."

Yugi leapt at her and flung his arms around her neck, name labels flying everywhere. His tone, when he spoke again, was one of sheer relief. "I love you."

"Of course you do," said Anzu brightly, "I just saved your hair from certain peril."

Yugi smiled, and shyly kissed her cheek. "Thank you."

His girlfriend smiled back in response, ruffling the back of his spikes fondly before giving him a pat on the back and a point to the kitchen. "Here…why don't I finish wrapping the rest of these, and you go make us some hot chocolate?"

"But I _couldn't -"_

"You could come back and help me afterwards?" Anzu was coaxing. "And I've just come in from outside Yugi, and it was _cold _out there."

"Alright…" slowly, Yugi clambered to his feet, Anzu already reaching the nearest roll of wrapping-paper. "I'll be back soon." He left for the kitchen, going to put the kettle onto boil and preparing the mugs with instant chocolate and milk before going back to lean in the doorway, and watch Anzu work.

The brunette hummed to herself as she wrapped, apparently unaware of her audience, shoulder-length hair kept back off of her face with a silver-metal barrette Yugi had given her as part of her birthday present. She made quick work over what took Yugi so long, neatly enfolding each gift in just enough paper before sealing it up, tying some shimmering ribbon around the whole lot and ending it with a gift-tag and bow.

The kettle clicked when it had finished boiling, and Yugi turned to go pour out their drinks, coming back with a mug in hand once he was done to watch Anzu start on another gift.

"Here," padding over the floor in his socks to give the woman her cup Anzu beamed at him, humming pausing as she took an appreciate sip of the hot drink cradled in her hands. Yugi sat down cross-legged beside her, arm just lightly brushing the other's leg. "Nice?"

_"Wonderful."_ Blue eyes closed in bliss. "You have no idea how much I needed this."

"And you have no idea how much I needed help with the presents…" Yugi looked around, a little startled to see Anzu had managed to wrap three quite bulky gifts in the time he'd been gone.

The brunette smiled a little, still to herself. "I could make a fair guess…"

"Probably," Yugi conceded with a nod, drinking a little more of his own chocolate. "My state when you came in probably helps quite a bit."

"You do usually get yourself into a bit of state…" Anzu trailed off, eyeing the other a little thoughtfully over her mug.

"What?" Yugi touched a self-conscious hand to his throat, where the brunette was looking. "Anzu, what are you thinking?" The girl broke out into a grin. "Anzu!"

Anzu ignored Yugi's mild panic, setting her drink aside and grabbing some of the ribbon she'd been using only minutes beforehand. "Just – stay still?"

Yugi eyed the ribbon, and his girlfriend, warily. "Anzu -"

"Stay _still."_

Yugi stayed still, inwardly sighing, almost _hearing_ the sing-song chorus of '_whiiipped'_ being paraded around in his head by a gleeful mini-Jounouchi. (Not that the blond could really speak, considering how he was led around on the leash by Mai, but _still.)_ Anzu set to work, holding one end of the ribbon and looping it around and around her boyfriend in glittering circles.

Halfway through, Yugi couldn't help but voice his – mild – concern. "Anzu…what _are_ you doing?"

The young woman grinned at him, expression alight with mischief. "Wrapping my own present."

Yugi blushed at that, rose creeping high into his cheeks as Anzu continued her labour, the brunette finishing the whole lot with a flamboyant bow just under the duelist's chin.

The brunette sat back on her haunches for a few minutes afterwards to admire her handiwork, before breaking out into a warm smile. "It suits you."

"But -"

Anzu kissed him, lips warm and firm and still tasting of the chocolate she'd been drinking. Her hair tickled his cheek, and Yugi felt her curving, infectious smile against his mouth. When she withdrew, still with that lovely expression her face, Yugi felt himself smiling as well, wrapped as ridiculously he was in ribbons and bows.

"…Love you too?"


	23. Stockings Chibishipping

**Shadow: **Belated, yes, but I can still get away with it. (Just.) The twelve days of Christmas are not yet quite done. X3

_**Shipping: **__Chibishipping – _Yugi Mouto x Mokuba Kaiba (They're both somewhat older in this.)

* * *

**Little Gifts**

**23) Stockings**

"Nii-sama's asked if I want to go back to the family mansion for Christmas."

Yugi looked up from his book at that, noting the serious set of his lover's face. "Oh?" He kept his tone light, but both of them could hear the thousand and one different meanings layered into that one, simple word. "What did you say?"

Kaiba Mokuba, twenty-three, grown-up and respectable, took a seat at the other's side, laying a hand on Yugi's arm. "I said I'd talk it over with you first, and let him know."

"Mokuba…" Yugi couldn't help but sigh at that, marking his page and closing his novel, "you know I'm not trying to get between your brother and you -"

"I know," Mokuba assured him gently.

"You should go to the mansion – it's a traditional thing for you and Kaiba; I'm not going to get in the way of that and spoil things -"

"Yugi, I'm not going to the mansion alone."

"Mokuba -"

"Come with me?"

Yugi paused at that, uncertainty shining in his lilac eyes. "Mokuba, it's a family thing; I really don't think I -"

"Aren't _you _part of my family?" Mokuba leaned in closer, his head on his lover's shoulder. "Onii-sama knows I love and care for you, and he did extend the offer to you as well when I originally said I'd be spending the holiday with you, and -"

"Mokuba…" Yugi was weakening.

"You should come for the evening to the mansion," Mokuba murmured, nuzzling into the crook of his lover's neck. "I made him promise not to rip your head off of your shoulders."

"How kind," Yugi managed to tone down the dryness in his voice slightly, hiding his own nervousness. "So decapitation's out, but have all the other options of murder gone the same way as well?"

"Yugi…" Mokuba sighed, his breath sending his boyfriend's bangs spinning, warm against the other's neck. "We go to your grandfather's home so much of the time, why couldn't we-?"

"There's a reason for that." Yugi couldn't help but interrupt. "My grandfather loves me, likes you, and isn't likely to try and stab either of us in the back with a letter-opener. Your brother on the other hand…"

Mokuba tugged on the other's arm, locking gazes with his lover's. His eyes were still as heartfelt as they had been when he'd been twelve. "Please Yugi? For me?"

Yugi sighed as well, and inwardly began planning his will. "…I'll go."

* * *

They sat in the limo together on the way to the Kaiba mansion, early evening on Christmas Eve. Many of the houses they passed in the streets were bedecked with lights and lanterns, their warm golden glow combating the encroaching night.

"I wonder if Seto'll have turkey this year…" Mokuba had his head on the other's shoulder; mind absent as he gazed out of the vehicle's window. "The chef and nii-sama often have a disagreement about it because she insists it's traditional and Seto usually pooh-poohs it -"

"Never mind turkey," Yugi was outright antsy, predicting his death when they were only halfway there (it was a wonder Mokuba was still using him as a pillow), "He's going to eat _me _alive."

Mokuba sat up, looking at his lover strangely. "Onii-sama's not _that _bad -"

"With stuffing, Mokuba! _Stuffing!"_

"Will you stop panicking?" The younger of the couple took his boyfriend's hand, trying to transmit reassurance through the feel of his fingertips. "As far as I know Seto's never really been into cannibalism and -"

"Mokuba," Yugi retorted rather flatly, "when I first told him about our relationship he threatened to gouge out my insides with a dull spoon."

"So apparently he's into the whole Egyptian mummification thing – that doesn't mean he doesn't like you!"

"Mokuba, does and _quote, _'pain, death and eternal suffering' mean nothing to you? He threatened me with pain, death and eternal suffering!"

"Was this before or after the spoon?"

"Mokuba!" Yugi flailed with his free hand. "Your brother's going to kill me! Show some concern!"

"…What happened to the cool, calm and collected Yugi I know and love?"

"Cool, calm and collected Yugi got dragged off out into the wintry night and clubbed to death by hired thugs, much like the rest of him is due to be rather shortly."

"Yugi, you're being ridiculous." Mokuba raised the other's hand, pressing a soft kiss to the back of it, his voice utterly sincere. "My brother is well past the days of when he might've acquiesced to hired killing, though his demeanour to the general public would still have so many believe otherwise. His bark _is _worse than his bite -" the youth broke off suddenly, looking back out of the window once more, "we're here."

Yugi's smile was bright, but forced. "Wonderful."

* * *

It had been nearly so long that Mouto Yugi had forgotten how downright _scary _Kaiba Seto could be, up close, in person. (Not to say, of course, that he couldn't be almost as intimidating on-screen, but Yugi didn't have that option available to him at that moment in time.)

Mokuba had left the room his brother and lover was in, saying he was going to the toilet, but Yugi had his doubts. The somewhat pleased smiled on the black-haired male's face had been a bit of a giveaway, as had Kaiba's slowly-raised eyebrow in response to his younger sibling's actions.

A few minutes after the door had shut behind Mokuba Kaiba started to speak, a glass of the mulled wine the CEO had offered to his guests resting about chin-height in his hands. "…So you were nervous about coming here because of _me?"_

Either Kaiba was a mind-reader, or the Kaiba brothers were somehow telepathic. Yugi was going to go out on a tentative limb, and say it was a bit of both, trying to hide his nerves behind a lowly snapped retort. "I'm not going to be worried about visiting a _house, _Kaiba."

"You should be;" was the rather dry retort, Kaiba taking a sip of his drink, "we have a torture chamber in the basement." Yugi baulked. "I'm _joking, _Mouto."

"Oh…_oh -"_

"Don't die on me, hm? Mokuba would be most put-out." Kaiba put down his drink. "He's grown terribly fond of you."

And so they reached the root of the matter, in Kaiba's usual direct manner. This had to be a record, even for the brunet. "I would do nothing to hurt Mokuba." Yugi's back straightened, truth and conviction shining out in his voice.

Kaiba looked at the other silently for a long time (- and Mokuba must have _really _eaten something funny to have disappeared for that length of time). The brunet finally looked aside, "I should hope not, Mouto." His voice was quiet, but firm. "Or I'll feed you to my dragons."

Yugi laughed, forcing the sound because he was _damned _if he was going to show himself up in front of Kaiba again –

"Mouto, that wasn't a joke."

The laughter stopped. Quickly.

* * *

They hung up stockings together over the authentic fireplace, Mokuba between Seto and Yugi, chattering animatedly to both. Yugi allowed himself to be slowly coaxed into conversation, smiling and laughing with his boyfriend, but Kaiba remained mostly silent, watching the other with his sharp eyes. Yugi was uncomfortably aware of those eyes for the rest of the evening, as the trio ate together, laid out presents together, eventually parted ways and headed for bed only to sneak down later and put presents in each others' stockings. Blue eyes hung over it all, but Yugi bore it, withstood them, and was pleased to note that, on Christmas morning, the gaze was removed from him, left him alone as they ate breakfast together, left him alone right up until they went to their stockings and took the little piles of gifts from them. Yugi found the small, folded note at the bottom of his. Met blue eyes over the top of Mokuba's babbling head (apparently, the young man liked the new watch his brother had given him), and turned aside slightly to open the note and read it.

_I could envision worse brother-in-laws… _

Yugi looked up, and caught the cynical half-smirk, half-smile on Kaiba Seto's face. Smiled, slightly weakly, but still a little stronger than the night before.

…_though the threat of the dragons still stands._


End file.
